


Do You Know The Way?

by Alonzee_que1



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Accidental Use of the Force, Crossover, Gen, Harry Needs a Hug, He's also protective, How Do I Tag, I Don't Even Know, I Tried, I'm Sorry, I'm screwed, Man-DAD-lorian, Mando is so done, My First AO3 Post, My First Work in This Fandom, Protective Mando, Sassy Harry, Star War fans go easy on me, Touch his boys and you'll die, What Was I Thinking?, accidental magic, hahaha, i dunno, is that all?, they all do
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:33:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 40,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23439247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alonzee_que1/pseuds/Alonzee_que1
Summary: Harry ends up in a galaxy far far away trying his best to stay alive and protect a baby alien-thing that attached itself to him. Along the way he meets the Mandalorian and an adventure of a lifetime begins. (Sorry, bad summary)
Relationships: Baby Yoda & The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV), Harry Potter & Baby Yoda, Harry Potter & The Mandalorian
Comments: 137
Kudos: 687





	1. The Child

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome to my first story on this site! I’m excited to see your guy’s response to this and hope y’all like it! Quick warning to any Star Wars fans, I’ve only watch The Mandalorian (I loved it) so I don’t know anything besides what they showed me and explained. So I hope you can forgive me if I don’t use the right vocabulary or if I mess anything up.

Harry didn't know how he ended up in the middle of an alien city. One minute he was fighting Death Eaters and trying to find his godfather in the maze of prophecies and other magical wonders. The next he was falling through a doorway. At least, he thought it was a doorway, it was hard to tell in the dark, and his memory was a bit fuzzy. But now, well, now here he was wondering, lost and alone with no way to get back. 

There were only three things that Harry knew for a fact. One: He was in an alien city with no signs of the magical world existing. Two: He needed to go back and save his friends and godfather. Three: Harry felt utterly hopeless. 

Yup. Just another day in the life of Harry fucking Potter. Really, Harry thought he would be over this by now. After all, this was a reoccurring thing in his life. 

Dodging another short alien with a black robe that covered everything but the creepy glowing red eyes, Harry couldn't help but curse his luck. Again. For the hundredth time this year. 

He was relieved to see that he didn't stand out too much, covered in scratches and blood as he was. Still, he wished he knew that cleaning spell he remembered Mrs. Weasley used that one time when one of the twin’s pranks went wrong and splattered them all with bright neon yellow paint. 

Sighing, Harry ducked into an empty alleyway way, hoping to find a place to sit for a while and think things through. 

It's been approximately an hour since he woke up in this strange land, and he was no closer to finding a way back home. The only thing he knew from overhearing what little English spoken from the passing aliens was that he was on a planet called Taris. Which meant nothing to Harry. After all, what was the point of knowing the name of the planet if he didn't know where exactly that is. Besides that, Harry was completely clueless. 

Heaving yet another sigh, Harry slid downward until he was sitting on the ground with his back against the wall. What the hell am I supposed to do now?

His friends were probably wondering where he was. Oh Merlin! He left them in the middle of their battle with Death Eaters! What if they had been captured? Or worse...dead!

Harry whimpered at the thought. Bringing his knees to his chest and burrowing his face into them, he tried to even his rapid breathing. 

Harry was panicking, he had never felt so lonely and scared in his life. Sure, he fought Voldemort and other dangers throughout his school years, but this felt different. Because at least then he knew he had something worth fighting for. He had his friends, and they had his back. But here? Here he had no one. 

The young Gryffindor was too distracted by his own spiraling thoughts that he did not notice something small approach him. Perhaps if he had his fate would have changed, but he didn't. So it was no surprise that Harry ended up in yet another situation that would have been avoided if he didn't have such a hero complex. 

Harry froze when he felt something tug on his pant leg. Slowly lifting his head up, the wizard was startled to see, what appeared to be, a small greed, big eared baby cooing at him. 

At first, he hopefully thought that it was a baby house elf and that it would maybe take him back to wherever it came from. Unfortunately, Harry soon realized that it couldn't be a house elf. For one, the ears were all wrong and the nose seemed to be too small to belong to a house elves'. 

Disappointed, but nevertheless glad that this alien baby had distracted him from his dark thoughts, Harry smiled gently at the small thing. 

"Hello there, what are you doing here?" 

The baby just blinked those big eyes in response. 

Harry gazed around, looking for anything that resembled the little guy but much older. Unable to find anyone he turned back to the baby, "Where are your parents? Are you lost?" 

It just cooed at him again and then lifted its arms in the universal sign for 'up'. 

Feeling a bit reluctant to lift such a fragile creature, Harry surveyed the scene around them once again hoping to spot the baby's parents. 

Finding nothing, he hesitantly picked the child up. Not really knowing anything about holding a child, Harry awkwardly cradled it in his arms. 

"Well, I guess we should go look for your mom or dad before they start to worry." 

Walking out into the open, Harry felt more relaxed having something to do. He had a purpose now and he was damn well going to do his best to reunite the little guy with his family. 

He must have walked for hours but didn't have any luck in finding the green alien's parents. Harry was starting to get tired and his stomach growled in hunger. Sighing in defeat, he looked around for a place to rest. 

Peering down, Harry's heart melted at the sight of the tiny thing sleeping contentedly in his arms. For an alien of unknown species, it really was rather adorable. 

It was getting dark and Harry had no idea where he was going to sleep. He searched and luckily found a small alcove to squeeze into. Taking out his wand (thank Merlin he still had it) and casted a notice-me-not charm to hopefully dissuade any wandering creatures from disturbing them. Taking off his sweater he bundled the child up, it wouldn't do them any good if it got sick. 

Harry struggled to get comfortable but eventually he managed to doze off. 

The next day was no better than the last. 

No sign of the kids' parents and both of them were starving. The child was getting fussy and kept whimpering, Harry felt bad because he couldn't feed the little one. Him on the other hand, could handle a bit of starvation. He was used to going days with little to no food, so this was nothing new to him, but the baby….

At this point, Harry decided to resort to stealing. Not very Gryffindor-ish of him but hey, he had to do what it takes to survive in this strange universe. 

Casting another notice-me-not charm on the baby and him, he stealthily snatched what looked like a fruit from one of the vending stands. Taking a bit out of it, Harry crossed his fingers and hoped it wasn't harmful to him or the child. 

Luckily, after a few more bites and nothing happening to him, Harry deemed it eatable. Unfortunately, the tiny alien turned his nose up the juicy fruit. 

"You don't like it?" 

Harry scanned helplessly around, trying to find something it would eat. Maybe it only eats meat? Harry remembered catching a glimpse of those space themed movies that Dudley used to watch with scary looking aliens and such. Those aliens tended to eat people...so maybe this alien was also a carnivore? 

Catching sight of a stall selling some type of fried frog on a stick, Harry wiped one from the vendor and held it out to the child in his arms. 

"How about this?" 

The baby squealed and started munching on a frog leg. 

Harry sighed in relief, "Well, at least you didn't try to eat me." 

Cancelling the spell, Harry kept wandering about, trying to learn all he could about his current surroundings. 

That's how the trio spent their day, stealing what they needed and wandering the aisles. 

Eventually, Harry became aware that they were being followed. As casually as he possibly could, Harry ducked into, what looked like a local restaurant, and headed straight for the restrooms. 

Locking the door behind him, Harry took his sweater and turned it into one of those slings he used to always see mothers in the park use and snuggled the baby into it with his little face facing Harry. Then, he began to look for another way out.

Spotting a small window, Harry heaved it open, struggling to keep the sound of the window grinding open quiet. Once he managed to open the window, he stuck his head out to scout for anything or anyone suspicious. Finding nothing, Harry carefully slipped through. 

As he walked through the crowded streets, he kept looking behind, apprehensive of whomever was stalking them. 

Finally, Harry managed to find the alcove they had slept in before. Waving his wand Harry casted every disillusionment and concealment spell he could think of. He slumped down once he finished and checked on the poor kid. 

The alien baby was physically fine and only blinked at Harry with those big eyes, cooing at him as if he was trying to say 'I'm okay'. Smiling fondly, he stroked the child's big pointy ears. 

"Don't worry, I'll take care of you." Harry softly whispered. 

He'd gotten quite attached to the small thing. Though Harry supposed that part of it was because, like him, the child was all alone in the world. It also helped that the gremlin caused Harry's saving-thing to act up. Today's events just fortified those feelings. 

Relaxing, into the wall behind him, Harry gently rocked the baby to sleep with him following not long after. 

It was about a week after the initial stalking that Harry felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. No matter what he did or where he went, he couldn't seem to shake off the eyes following him. Getting desperate, Harry whipped out his wand and muttered the disillusionment charm and gasped in relief when he could no longer sense the eyes on him. After a few more twists and turns, he dropped the charm. This was a mistake. 

No sooner had he lifted the spell did Harry hear thundering footsteps coming up behind him, “After it!” They shouted as the young wizard shot off in a sprint. 

Dodging pedestrians and random objects alike, Harry clutched the child and tried his best to lose the pursuers. Waving and bobbing around vendors, he glanced behind him to see that the strange looking soldiers in all white were catching up. Unlike the teen, they did not care to dodge crates and such, instead, they shoved and pushed their way through the crowd. 

Harry, not looking where he was going, too busy keeping an eye on those behind him, made a sharp turn only to slam into something. Stumbling back, with his arms held protectively around the child, Harry was terrified to see that the person in front of him was tall and imposing with a gun in his hands. 

“Over here! They went that way!” 

Harry turned to see the white-clad men rounding the corner. Fear filled his pores as he frantically twisted around, his wand raised up intending to cast the Stupefy spell at the being in front of him. Too late, Harry’s moment of indecision cost him and before he could even blink, he was knocked out. 

The Kubaz who had been the cause of Harry’s sudden unconsciousness, clicked and whistled in satisfaction. Quickly dumping the two kids into a sack (which was lighter than it had expected it to be), the Kubaz casually strolled towards its waiting ship. It could not wait to get the money his client promised him if he captured The Child. The fact that he caught two, one of them having unknown abilities (the Kubaz had been staking them out for quite some time, in fact, it was the cause of Harry’s first run), would surely give it a raise. 

(Inside the bag, the still conscious baby whined and wiggled trying to get himself and his new companion free with no success.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew! That took me longer than I thought! Some of the things, like the type of aliens, planets and such took me a while to research. I really hope I applied them correctly. Anyway, tell me your thoughts and please let me know if I need to improve anything. Also, sorry about any spelling/grammar mistakes.   
> Preview: “Twinkle twinkle little star~” “Ba!” “Yeah, I know I’m not the best singer. You don’t have to point it out.”


	2. The Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry gets tired of the stars and they get an unfortunate landing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Guys, how do I get rid of the second note at the bottom?)

Harry didn't know how long he was unconscious for. Who does? He woke up with his head pounding and feeling like his eyelids weighed a ton. 

For a while, he just laid there. Not moving. Just listening to his surroundings. Until he felt a tiny claw pat his cheek. Cracking an eye open, Harry couldn't help but grin seeing the face of his cute baby sidekick. 

"Ga!" 

Harry chuckled as he sat up, adjusting his skewed glasses which were- once again- cracked, "You're right, you're right. _I'm_ the sidekick and _you're_ the protagonist." 

The green bean cooed in delight. Sighing, Harry observed their surroundings. They seemed to be in a containment of some kind; there were no windows or noises outside the small hatch to indicate where they were. Tapping the floor lightly, Harry was un-surprised to hear a small _ping_ of his finger hitting the metal floors.

Frowning he looked up at the ceiling, “This is going to be harder than I thought.” 

Luckily, they hadn’t taken his wand, meaning they didn’t know its significance. This was to Harry’s advantage. Remembering the spell Hermione used to constantly cast on his glasses, Harry whispered, _Oculus Reparo._ Done with that, the teen crossed his legs reaching down to pick up the child and placing it on his lap, “Looks like we’re playing the waiting game.” 

They waited what felt like hours, Harry sat completely still, breathing slowly, knowing that whoever had kidnapped them was going to check in eventually. So they sat. Waiting. 

The child fell asleep, bored after a few hours of waiting, but still, Harry kept vigilant. Knowing that the moment they opened the hatch would be when he could strike. 

_Ping, ping, ping._

The fifteen-year-old stilled at the sound of something moving beyond their little cage. Staining his ears, he heard it again, the slight sound of water drops falling onto something metal. Tensing, Harry wondered if there was a leak somewhere, are they on a boat with the crashing waves slamming against them? Or were they in a strange contraption where a metal pipe had busted? He didn’t know, and it was agitating. 

_Ping._

_Ping._

How long has it been since he woke up? Why did they kidnap him? Or was it the helpless child sleeping on his lap that they were after? Harry wished he had Ron and Hermione with him, maybe then they could find a way to bust out of here. Hermione was a brilliant witch, surely she would have figured an escape plan by now? Harry started feeling a bit homesick. This isolation wasn’t doing him any good. 

_Ping, ping._

_Ping, ping._

Merlin would that thing just shut up?! It was giving him a headache! Was this how Sirius felt when imprisoned in Azkaban? Oh Merlin! Sirius! He just left him there, being tortured by Voldemort! His friends! Harry hoped they were alright. Did Snape figure out his little code; _“He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden!”_ Did Snape understand? Did he get the message to the Order on time? Surely, he did, Snape might be a bastard but he wasn’t _that_ heartless...was he? 

Harry shook his head, the confinement was getting to him, again. One would think that Harry would be used to being locked up, the Dursleys certainly did it often enough when he was younger. Those days were just as lonely and thought inducing as this. He remembered that he used to go in a spiraling tangent just like this one. Only, back then, he thought about how he longed for a _nice_ family. 

Ah, there he went again. 

_Creak!_

Harry snapped to attention, there was someone out there! He slowly reached for his wand curling his fingers around the hilt. His body deceptively relaxed, like a snake waiting to strike down its prey. 

He waited. 

_Slam!_

The door swung open.

Harry bounced, whipping his wand out towards the entrance of the crate, he bellowed, “ ** _Expelliarmus!_** ” 

The creature on the other side went flying, it crashed into the wall behind it and with a sickening _crack_ was instantly knocked out. 

Panting at the exertion, Harry scrambled up. Keeping a wary eye on the unconscious form of his kidnaper, he slowly stood up and backed out of the strangely shaped room. Now that he could freely look around, the boy who lived realized that he was close about them being on a ship. However, this wasn’t a boat in the traditional sense. No, they were in fact in a _spaceship_.

Gaping at the sight before him, Harry was awed at the endless scene of stars. It was one thing to look up from the ground into the endless starry night sky, quite another to actually be in the presence of such a vast galaxy. Wait. They were on a spaceship. In **space**.

_Shit_.

How the hell were they going to find their way back to the planet Taris?! The kids parents could still be back there! They needed to get back but, Harry knew nothing about flying a spaceship! They were so screwed.

“Ba?”

Harry looked down to the questioning eyes of the child, “Yeah, buddy. We’re screwed.”

Finding the control room wasn’t too hard, the spaceship wasn’t all that big so it’s not like they could have gotten lost. Still. What was he supposed to do now?

Setting the baby down on the passenger seat and after making sure it was comfortable, Harry plopped himself down on the drivers’ seat. Cracking his knuckled he resolved himself to learning to pilot the ship by trial and error.

Scanning the intimidating looking panel of buttons and levers Harry hesitantly put his hands on the front two levers, “Right. This looks like its important.”

He slowly pushed them forward, the ship jerked and sped up; Harry’s stomach flip-flopped in excitement. It might not be anything like flying a broom, the wind blowing through his hair and the smell of pines in the air. Yeah, flying was great. But here, Harry thought a spaceship would be the closest thing to it. Focusing on the control panel, he furrowed his brows in concentration.

“Cool. Now how do you steer...?”

The ship swerved to the side and Harry was thrown to the side at the sudden jerky movement. Grabbing his seat, he whipped his head around to spot the child clutching the steering stick in its tiny hands and jerking it form side to side, giggling all the while.

Smiling Harry laughed along with its gleeful cackles, “Looks like you’re better at this than I am!”

Turning back to the controls in determination Harry spoke to the baby, feeling better as he explained his plan of action out loud, even if the child couldn’t understand him.

“Okay, so we know how to move faster and how to steer this thing. Our best bet it to just go towards the closest habitable planet that we come across.”

Looking up, Harry noted the vast empty galaxy and groaned, “This might take a while.”

Despite this however, Harry was determined. Nodding his head in resolve, Harry took a hold of the thrusters and grinned, “Let’s do this!”

“Da!” The child babbled in what seemed like an agreement.

[Time Skip]

Its been days. _Days_ since they managed to take over the spaceship and there was no sign of them reaching a destination yet.

_Growl_.

Oh. And there was that.

Harry hadn’t had anything to eat since yesterday, most of the food on the ship was, well…it was alien looking and Harry wasn’t comfortable in eating anything he couldn’t name. Unfortunately, it only took him another day of starvation for him to break and finally nibble the weird- shriveled- looking fruit. Even then, he tried to limit the amount he ate for the baby. The child was his priority. After all, if it wasn’t for him(her?) Harry would have gone crazy long ago.

Speaking of which, the child was now whimpering for it too was hungry. Opening the last morsel of food, Harry fed them to it, “Here you go. Savor it, it might be a while till we get more.”

Exhaling in exhaustion, the teenage wizard slumped further into the seat. He was at the end of the rope, just the other day he discovered that the alien that kidnapped them was dead. While he should have been horrified to learn that his powerful _Expelliarmus_ had killed the poor creature, Harry just could not bring himself to care. He was too emotionally exhausted for that.

Had it really been only two weeks since he found himself in this strange galaxy? Since he dueled with Death Eaters? It had been one thing after another and frankly, Harry just wanted it to be over.

The child’s soft snuffling caused Harry to glance over. He melted at the sight of the child cuddling the half-eaten fruit as it gently snored away.

That’s right. He had a duty to fulfill.

Harry started humming a song he had heard his Aunt sing to Dudley in her nasally voice. He once greatly wished for someone to sing it to him, lovingly. Obviously, that never happened.

But…

Harry glanced at the restlessly sleeping child, its twitching indicating that it was having a bad dream. Harry thought, maybe he could be that someone for him. Quietly, he began to sing;

“ _Twinkle twinkle little star_

_How I wonder what you are_

_Up above the world so high_

_Like a diamond in the sky_

_Twinkle twinkle little star…”_

The babe sighed in contentment, slipping deeper into sleep. Seeing this, the boy-wizard trailed off, gazing emptily at the universe before him, wondering…

Eventually, Harry himself drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

The seeker felt like he had just managed to glide off to a dreamless sleep when he was yanked out of it by a blaring alarm. Eyes snapping open, Harry was horrified to see that they where approaching the surface of a planet rapidly. If he didn’t slow down their decent, they where going to become pancakes.

Grabbing the thrusters, Harry desperately yanked them towards his chest in an attempt to slow the ship down. He succeeded. Sort of. While he did manage to slow them down some, it was too late, the planets gravity was forcing them to slowly speed up.

Seizing the control lever, he heaved it downwards and lifted the ship so that it was no longer taking a head dive towards the ground. Next to him, he heard the child whine in distress. Grinding his teeth, Harry pulled with all his might. The ship shook and groaned at the strain, it trembled so much that Harry could feel it in his bones.

Deeming it useless to struggled with the controls anymore, Harry let go and scooped up the child. Cradling the small babe, Harry crouched down and braced for impact.

The young wizard couldn’t help but feel as if he had failed. If only he hadn’t fallen asleep, if he had been more vigilant in the first place! _Constant vigilance_ as Moody had stated multiple times.

If only he had been better, _stronger_. _If only…_

Harry felt something fill him, it was warm, and it embraced him. He felt whole. He felt **powerful**.

With a final whisper said to the one he swore to protect; “I’m sorry.” Seconds before impact, the boy-who-lived felt something **_snAP_**.

**BAnG!**

And Harry knew darkness once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo-hoo! Warp that up and give it to a child on Christmas, cuz I’m done! Sorry that this chapter was pretty slow plot-wise, but hey, I got it done! For sure, next chapter is gonna have some Mandalorian in it! Honestly, I have no idea where I’m going with this so I’m mostly swinging it. You guys might have noted that I’ve been avoiding giving Baby Yoda any pronouns and that’s cuz the show never really mentioned its gender. I think most people assume it’s a boy but who knows? Again, I’m sorry if I get anything Star Wars related wrong! (I should really think about watching all the movies).  
> Tell me what you think!  
> Preview: “The males are all eaten during mating season.” “Facinating” Mando could care less about the mating habits of blurrgs, he just wanted his bounty.


	3. The Mandalorian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mando is not amused, and Harry wasn’t going down without a fight

Mando was… _wary_. This new bounty was going to be trouble, he had a gut feeling. It didn’t help matters that all he had to go off was the age (50 years old), its last known location, and the fact that it has a human companion. If he didn’t need the Beskar they were offering for- not only his armor but for the foundlings too- he wouldn’t have taken such a shifty job.

Tracking the asset down was the easy part, it didn’t seem to be moving and the planet they were on- Arvala-7- was a fairly peaceful one. Yes, this bounty was shaping up to be an easy one.

That is, until he encountered, not one but _two_ blurrgs as soon as he stepped off his ship.

Grunting at the strain of having his arm almost ripped off by the blurrg’s jaws, he activated his flame thrower in a vain attempt to scare it off. Really, if it wasn’t for the Ugnaught Mando would have been toast. And wasn’t that an embarrassing thought? Done in by a simple blurrg. Granted, it was more than one but _still_. It was the principle of the matter.

Now, here he was, trying to learn how to ride a blurrg.

“ **Oof** ” He landed on his back, the impact causing him to lose the air in his lungs.

For a while, he just laid there, contemplating if this job was **_really_** worth it.

“Perhaps if you took off your helmet you would be able to ride the blurrg.” The Ugnaught commented casually on his constant failure.

“ ** _Perhaps_ ,**” Mando groaned as he sat up, “ **he remembers I tried to roast him.** ” He shot the passing blurrg a dirty look, not that it could tell- what, with the helmet on.

“It’s a female,” The Ugnaught pointed out.

Mando turned to look at him, even with the helmet on, the Ugnaught could tell he was giving him a ‘ _do I look like I care?_ ’ look.

He ignored it of course, mentally shaking his head; _young’uns these days_ , “The males are all eaten during mating season.” 

“ ** _Fascinating_** _”_ The Mandalorian mumbled sarcastically, making sure to keep his voice low. Despite this, the Ugnaught still managed to hear him- _somehow_ \- however, once again the short old man ignored such disrespect. He would learn. They all do.

“Your ancestors rode the great mythosaur. Surely, this young foal would be easy to tame for one such as yourself?”

Mando knew what the old man was doing, he was provoking him while stroking his ego. Normally such poking wouldn’t work but…

Damn it.

It was working.

Sighing, Mando turned and looked at the blurrg in grim determination. He was going to finish this job, one way or another, and no damn blurrg was going to slow him down.

XXXX

Harry was having a shitty week. Scratch that. He was having a shitty _year_. First the Dementors came and almost got him expelled, then the most **vile** human- no, Toad- became the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher, and then the whole thing where Dumbledore refused to meet his eyes or even be in the same room as him, not to mention those aggravating. Occulmancy lessons with Snape. Oh! And did he mention Umbitch’s tortur- oops- he meant _detentions_? Oh yeah, this year has been a colossal shit storm. And it wasn’t even over!

Harry ignored the sounds of fighting and people dying coming from outside and continued his inner charade.

Dreaming about Sirius being captured, the DA agreeing to help him fight Voldemort, and almost getting crucioed by a toad (who knew that toads could evolve enough to cast spells? You learned something new everyday!). Getting chucked into another dimension and becoming a guardian at the ripe young age of fifteen. Fifteen! Harry was only fifteen and he had all this stuff happen to him! At this rate he was going to grow white hairs from all the stress. Maybe him and Dumbledore could arrange play dates and braid each other’s long luscious white hair. They would have more in common and could have a good laugh at others confusion when they’re being all cryptic and stuff.

Harry was amused at this line of thought, absentmindedly stroking the little one’s long ears as it entertained itself with a random rock he had found.

The sounds of fighting slowly dyed down, Harry sighed in relief. Finally, some peace and quiet. It seems like every other day or so, the goons who captured them were being attacked by some other goons in order to get to Harry and the child. Which was a bit confusing, why would these people take such a huge interest in them? Was the babe on his lap some sort of lord? Or the child of some powerful king? It could be that they’re interested in Harry’s magical abilities. But that doesn’t really make sense either. The only people who have seen him do magic was the child currently sitting on his lap. Their previous kidnapper was dead so…

Harry felt a headache coming on from the amount of thinking he was doing on an empty stomach.

Speaking of their dead kidnapper, Harry wondered what exactly happened that they both 

managed to survive such a harsh landing? He last thing he remembered was him saying sorry to the tiny child cradled in his arms then…nothing. The young wizard was positive that they had impacted the ground, yet when he came to, he could see no injuries on them besides a few bruises here and there from being manhandled by their new handlers. Nothing to indicate how or why they survived. Don’t get him wrong! Harry was glad that he hadn’t caused the baby’s demise, it was just puzzling.

Harry mourned the fact that his wand was either broken or lost- mostly likely both- in the wreckage of the spaceship. He hated the feeling of not being able to use his magic; not being able to feel reassurance that he _could defend himself_. Harry felt very vulnerable. As if he was back with the Dursleys in his little cupboard.

“Here.”

The slam of a tray hitting the floor started Harry out of his musings. He looked up to see one of the aliens who resembled a snarling dog gazing down on them in contempt.

“Eat up. It’s all your getting” He (was it a he? Harry had a hard time telling besides the voice), snapped with a final glance, marched out of the building, gun slung against his side.

The Gryffindor wrinkled his nose in disgust at the slob of food provided. Harry would insist to anyone who would listen that the goop was alive and moving. Sadly, no one was around to hear him complain about how they treat their guests. Hell, he wouldn’t even treat his worst enemy this way! (That’s a lie. Harry would happily sell Umbridge to a muggle zoo and have them feed her flies and other disgusting insects).

Sighing, he arranged them in a more comfortable manner, carrying the baby on his hip and scooped up the sludge and carefully fed the child. Leaving only the bare necessities to himself, despite its questionable origins, Harry knew he had to eat in order to keep up his strength. Despite not having a wand at hand, Harry was determined to learn wandless magic. So for the past few days, he’s been trying to create shields. If he couldn’t defend the child, the least he could do was protect it, right? So Harry practiced day and night when he had the energy, using rocks and trying his best. Unfortunately, Harry’s practice yielded little to no results so far and Harry was read to give up. But he was too stubborn. So he continued in vain.

The baby babbled and munched, seemingly unaware of the situation they were in. But Harry knew better. When the guards came in a foul mood and Harry tucked the child into its floating like crib, it went in without a fuss and stayed silent; somehow sensing the bad atmosphere. Those days where the worse because Harry never knew what they would do. Sometimes, they even pushed him around, jeering and snarling in their language. Harry didn’t really mind, he was just worried that they would choose to turn their attentions to the child. They never did, that was a huge relief. But it also made Harry suspect that the reason they where being held captive in the first place was because they wanted the child. Not him. He just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Per usual.

As he ate Harry tried to come up with another escape plan. Although his plans never tend to go the way he wanted them to. As Hermione once told him, he was more of a ‘think on his feet’ type of guy than a ‘make a plan and execute it’ kind. And yeah, Harry could see that. After all, his plans tended to go sideways; just look at the way his last one turned out. He almost got them killed.

Wincing at the reminder Harry gently tried to burp the child. Now, one may be wondering how Harry knew so much about babies. Well he didn’t. Not really. He just did all the things he wished Aunt Petunia would do for him as a child. Reading bedtime stories, singing lullabies, spoon feeding him, playing with him, and giving him presents for his birthday.

Harry also got his knowledge from watching others interact with their families. As a six-year-old, he had liked sitting on the bench of their local park and just observe the people around him. He noted how a mother would calm her crying child, and how a father would play ball with his son, and how the other kids played and laughed with each other. Harry learned all that and more by just observing the world around him.

After burping and rocking the child to sleep, Harry arranged himself on the cold hard ground, using his arms as pillows. He gazed down at his chained feet, when they had first got here, the guards wanted to chain his wrist and neck too- like a rabid dog needing to be put down. Luckily he managed to convince them to leave his wrists and neck be, arguing that he needed them freed to take car of the child. Driving home the fact that non of them seemed to know how to take care of a baby in the first place. They had reluctantly agreed but refused to leave him completely unchained, thus the ankle cuffs that are attached to the adjacent wall.

Shifting to his side, Harry let out a deep, exhausted, sigh. Pondering when this would all be over until he eventually fell asleep.

XXXXX

Mando contemplated the small camp bellow him. While there wasn’t many places they could have hidden the assets, it would still be difficult to find with the amount of people guarding it. He could potentially throw a grenade in the midst of them, only that could possibly harm the asset earning him half of the promised reward, so that was out of the question.

As the Mandalorian thought up of multiple plans he spotted a droid enter the camp. Couching down he took out his telescope and zoomed in on the manufactured bounty hunter. Mando had to stop himself from rolling his eyes and scoffing at the IG’s mechanical way of talking. Shaking his head, he stood up saying in disgust, “ ** _Droids_** ”.

Sneaking in closer he waited for the droid to finish firing at the enemies to pop out and introduce himself. In hindsight, he probably should have introduced himself _before_ stepping out to the open.

Groaning he struggled to get up, not liking the fact that his first meeting with an IG droid was him being blasted back by the force of its attack.

“ **I’m in the guild!** ”

“ **You are in the guild? I thought I was the only one on assignment.”**

“ **You and me both.** ” Mando scoffed, of course The Client wouldn’t tell him if others were assigned, why would they? They had no guarantee that he would complete and survive such a low-profile and high-risk bounty.

Sighing (it feels like that’s all he does these days), Mando gave the IG-11 a proposition, “ **What if we split the reward fifty-fifty?** ”

“ **That would be acceptable.** ”

So off they went, Mandalorian and Droid working in harmony…for a while anyway. Mando was going to ditch the rust bucket as soon as he got his half of the reward, then bye-bye droid.

XXXXX

Harry had his sleep interrupted once again by the sound of gun shots. Rolling over, he clamped his hands over his ears to try to block out the noise. Groaning he muttered, “Can’t they come and get us at a more convenient time? Like, I dunno, _when I’m not sleeping?!_ ”

Sitting up, Harry went to dote on the poor child who was kicking up a fuss having been woken up by the disrupting noise outside. Shushing the child, Harry lifted him up from his crib and tried to get it to quiet down.

“Shh, it’s alright!” Harry comforted.

As soon as the child calmed down and was back to its chirpy self, Harry glared at the entrance.

“Stupid aliens. One of these days I’m gonna wake _them_ up. See how they like it.”

Normally, Harry wouldn’t really mind being woken up from his sleep; he was considered a morning person. But ever since he ended up in this galaxy, his scar hasn’t even twinged and his nightmares had become nonexistent. This should worry Harry, and it did, but he’s gotten used to the dreamless nights and quite frankly, enjoyed getting as much sleep as he could. So yeah, he was a bit pissed that the inconsiderate idiots outside disturbed his much needed and earned sleep.

“I wonder if where ever going to get out of here?” He questioned out loud, not really expecting an answer. Yet…

No sooner had Harry uttered those words did it become eerily silent.

_What? Seriously? Does the world just love proving me wrong?!_ Harry mentally screamed.

Not knowing what was coming, Harry silently hid himself and the small child away behind the crates, leaving the floating crib in front of them as a distraction. Hopefully, whoever was coming, gave up after not finding the baby. Yeah, right. And Harry was the reincarnation of Merlin.

The silence was nerve racking and Harry almost breathed a sigh of relief when they started shooting down the door. The baby green goblins mewled in distress, not liking the violently loud noise. Harry gently patted its back and whispered, “Shh! They’ll hear us!”

The child gave a final wiggle before going completely silent.

**Boom!**

The heavy metal door that Harry was sure could only be opened by Hagrid himself, landed on a broken heap on the floor, shaking the ground. The boy-who-lived held his breath, anxiety skyrocketing with every step the pair of intruders took. All he could hear was the sound of his heart pounding and blood rushing through his veins.

At this moment, Harry cursed the fact that he didn’t have his wand with him. It could really come in handy right about now.

_Ssshhh_

The crib opened to reveal nothing in it.

“ **Strange. There are definitely signs of life forms coming from this direction. Perhaps they are hiding under those crates.** ”

Harry’s heart dropped. This was it. They were going to die here for sure this time.

The tarp was yanked back and the crates where shoved to one side. Bright light shone on Harry’s face. It felt as if his body weighed a ton as Harry slowly turned and looked up and his executioners.

Wide terrified green eyes locked on the dark visor of the Mandalorian.

XXXXXXX

Mando was not expecting this.

A kid of around thirteen or fourteen staring up at him, clutching a child in his arms. Clearly terrified of them. It was haunting. Those bright green eyes combined with the chocolate doe eyes of the child’s was his undoing. For a moment, the scene before him shifted and took on the form of a dark haired youngling, cowering away from a droid.

Forcefully bringing himself out of that vision, Mando tried to stop his voice from shaking, “ **I thought they said fifty years old? And his companion?** ”

“ **Perhaps its species age differently than others. Sadly, we’ll never know.** ”

IG-11 aimed its gun at the children and Mando quickly stopped him, **“Wait! We’ll bring them in alive.** ”

_What am I doing?!_

The oldest child gaped at them, probably not understanding what Mano was doing either.

IIG-11 resumed its stance, “ **Protocol states that they must be terminated.** ”

When Mando didn’t reply, the droid aimed. The Mandalorian stood by quietly, not being able to take his eyes off the younglings. The green eyed one had turned his back on them, uselessly trying to shield the baby from the on coming attack. That’s when Mando saw it. The chain attached to the kid, preventing him from fleeing. If the baby of unknown species had been alone, it wouldn’t have been able to escape, but with the kid…well. Mando could see the logic of chaining him up. Even if it made him sick to his stomach. Actually. This whole operation made him sick. They where sent to kill _children_. Not the usual crime driven adults he was used to. _Children_ were meant to be cherished , _protected_.

_This is wrong_.

Within seconds, Mando had drawn his pistol and shot the droid. The shot echoed eerily in the empty campus. He saw the kid flinch at the sound, turning around to stare at the fallen machine in disbelief. Honestly, Mando wanted to do the same, even he was slightly surprised at his actions. Then he rationalized, turning in the assets alive would earn him more in the long run, right? Right.

Ever so slowly, the Mandalorian crouched down, hands up and splayed to show he meant no harm. Which, wasn’t entirely true. He _was_ trying to earn money off of them, but well, you had to do what you had to do to survive. (At this point, Mando didn’t know who he was trying to convince.)

“ **Come on kid. Lets get you guys out of here.** ”

The boy dithered, clearly unsure of the Mandalorian’s agenda. The Mandalorian sighed, if he could pinch the bridge of his nose in exhaustion, he would. Alas, he couldn’t take his helmet off. Staring at the brats before him, Mando decided being blunt was the best way to go.

“ **Look. Kid. I’m only here to get my reward. So I can take you in kicking and screaming _or_ you could be a good boy and cooperate.**”

A deadpanned stare was all he got in response, clearly, he was choosing to do it the hard way.

“ ‘ **Right then…** ”

Surprising the kid with his speed, Mando whipped out a pair of handcuffs and placed them on the kid. Or, at least, that’s what he meant to do, instead he only managed to cuff one wrist. He had to admit, the brat had pretty good reflexes. The power struggle continued on for a bit while the child watched on, giggling at the tangle of limbs they had become.

Unfortunately for the brat, Mando was a grown adult and trained hunter, it wasn’t long before he managed to wrestle the other wrist into the cuff. Standing up triumphantly, Mando took off the leg chain. Scooping up the baby he deposited it in its crib and made sure the control for the floating pram worked.

Satisfied he gently pushed the now standing kid forward, “ **Walk.** ”

They marched out of the camp in a line, Mando wasn’t risking having the brat behind him. Especially when he’s already shown his rebellious side. The child hovered behind him, gazing in wonder at it surroundings, once again showing how innocent it was.

The trio marched on, the view of the endless desert rock formations looming ahead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That’s it! This chapter is extra long- about ten pages! I gave you all a peak into the Mandalorian’s mind, or at least my interpretation of it. He’s a bit conflicted that’s for sure! Also: I no longer have Disney+ cuz my free trial ended (hehe) so it’s not like I can go back to see exactly what they said in certain scenes so I'm paraphrasing (not that I want to keep it all the same, there will be changes people!). So not much else to say…See y’all next time! 
> 
> Preview: “What the hell are you?” “I’m obviously human, can’t you tell? Or is that big-ass helmet impairing your sight?” “…”


	4. The Jawas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry doesn’t know what to think of the Mandalorian and vice versa.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made art for this chapter! BUT I don't know how to show you guys 😥

Harry didn’t know what to think. On one hand, they were finally out of that dumpy place those people called a “hide out”, on the other- Harry was pretty sure this guy was some sort of mercenary and was going to sell them off. At least he wasn’t beating them(?). That was a win in Harry’s book.

Still….

Harry was worried. Who wanted them- the child- and where exactly where they going? So many questions, many which will most likely remain unanswered. Fidgeting with his hands, Harry glanced behind him to see the armored man looking straight ahead with the baby trailing after him gazing in wonder at the scene around him despite the fact that the view was mostly the same. Containing rocks, rocks, more rocks and—Oh! Look! A lizard!

Cracking a smile at his own joke, Harry caught the gaze of the mercenary and quickly turned around, not wanting the man to see how much he cared about the child in case he decided to use that against him in the future. At least, Harry _thought_ the man was looking in his direction. It was frustrating not being able to read his enemies facial expressions. Example number one being Death Eaters. Yeah, in Harry’s experience, masked men are **never** a good sign.

Now feeling more tense and alert than he ever was, Harry was able to sense someone following them. And apparently, so could the mercenary because he slowed to a stop, tilting his head as if to hear better. Harry mimicked him, trying to hear whatever it was the man could. There. He was sure he heard something!

As soon as Harry made that connection, three aliens jumped out of nowhere and attacked with vicious force. There was three in total, one went after the child, another towards the mercenary, and the third came after Harry. The man pushed the floating carriage away on time and engaged combat, meanwhile, Harry thought he was doing rather good on his own. You know, considering the fact that he was cuffed. Dodging and weaving was second nature to the boy so it wasn’t long before he managed to duck behind the mercenary forcing his pursuer to get through the man before continuing his chase.

Harry might be an idiot (his friends’ words, not his), but he wasn’t _stupid_. He knew that, while he might have been able to keep one step ahead of the alien-warrior-thing, he was in no way shape or form to actually knock it out. He couldn’t even access his magic properly for Merlin’s sake! So, he just used the armored man as a shield. Served him right. Harry was sure he would be alright. He had the armor. Not him.

Panting at the slight excursion, Harry planted himself in front of the child in case he was wrong about the man and he _couldn’t_ defeat these guys. This was the right decision on Harry’s part, while the mercenary had been distracted by the other two, the third came rushing at them, intent on killing both children.

Harry felt the adrenaline rush, his heart beating rapidly, blood rushing from the tip of his toes to the top of his head and Harry just _knew,_ that he’d finally be able to do it. He took a deep breath and with all his might **_pushed_**.

The warrior slammed his staff down only to fly back when his weapon hit an invisible wall. Or in Harry’s case, a shield made of **_magic_**.

XXXX

When the Trandoshan warriors ambushed them, Mando was ready. When they went after the kid, he was ready. When the boy managed to wiggle his way behind him for protection, _he was ready_. What he _wasn’t_ ready for, was for the brat to unleash some sort of aura to shield himself form the Trandoshan.

What. The. Fuck.

This wasn’t what he signed up for. In fact, **none** of this was anything he signed up for. But here he was! And for what? _Beskar?!_

Okay, perhaps he was taking it too far. No bounty is ever guaranteed to be what it seemed, so why should this be any different? Yes, why indeed.

Quickly aiming his Amban rifle, Mando disintegrated the fellow bounty hunter in an instant. As soon as the cost was clear of any other enemies, he rushed to the kids’ sides. Just in time too, because the brat had seemingly used too much energy for his weak body to handle and was on the verge of passing out. Holding the weakened child in his arms, Mando could not help but blurt out, “ **What the hell are you?** ”

The brat had the gall to grin cheekily at him, “I’m human, just like you.” Then he mock-frowned, “Or is that big ass helmet impairing your vision as well as your face?”

Mando twitched, the only sign that he let that smart-ass comment get to him before breathed deeply through his nose, “God* help me from snarky children.” He muttered.

Sighing he looked back down, “ **Look, kid. I—** ” Mando swallowed his words when he realized the teen was fast asleep.

He looked up when he heard the other child coo, answering with, “ **Looks like its just you and me, for a while anyway.** ”

The Mandalorian adjusted the boy on his back, tying his cloak around him so that he wouldn’t slide off his back. Once secured, they continued their journey to his ship, the Razor Crest. As he walked forward, Mando felt hit foot hit something. Looking down, he was only slightly socked to see a tracking fob that must have belonged to the Trandoshans. He clicked his tongue in annoyance, _great, just what I needed._ Stomping on the annoying thing, Mando felt a weird satisfaction hearing it crunch and break underfoot.

They walked until sunset, the sun blazing all the while-- burning the Mandalorian’s back. Sometimes, he really hated the fact that he had to wear so many layers, but this was The Way. Though maybe he should just dump the brats' body somewhere. Get rid of the extra baggage….

Or not.

Mando just caught the child’s gaze just as he was turning to look for a good ditch. Those big doe eyes stared into his soul, unblinking. As if it _knew_ what Mando was thinking. Grunting, he shifted the kid up higher on his back, “ **What? I was _joking_**.”

If possible, the child looked even more disapproving.

Unnerved by the child’s unsettling gaze, Mando looked away first, tensing when he felt the boy on his back stir. The teen snuggled deeper into his cloak and turned his head so that his nose brushed the crook of Mando's neck, the small puffs of air warming up the cloth causing his hairs to stand up at the alarmingly intimate pose. The Mandalorian stood completely still for a moment , holding his breath. Slowly, he turned his head slightly to see the kid’s face. He felt his chest squeeze as an unknown emotion clawed it’s way up when he saw the small content smile on the boy’s face.

_What—_ Mando swallowed thickly— _what am I--?_

However, before he could finish his thought, Mando was interrupted by the sound of the child’s happy squeals. Snapping out of it, Mando alternated from glaring at the little imp to glaring at the peaceful sleeping boy on his back. He **refused** to go _soft_ on them. Mando didn’t **do** _soft_. He went in, killed or captured the bounty and turned them in. **That’s it**. He was determined that this job would be no different.

With a new sense of determination, the Mandalorian continued forward on their journey. Only to stop after taking a few steps forward, realizing that during his whole mental struggle the sun had set and the sky was now full of stars.

“ **Right, we’ll camp here.** ” He struggled to keep the embarrassment out of his voice.

This slip up just hardened his resolved to get rid of these little hellions before they could turn him over to the Dark Side (yes, Mando was going there, these kids where _clearly_ sent by the Imperial force to test his patience).

Getting a fire started was easy when one had a flamethrower, and yeah, maybe it was a bit lazy for him to use his limited supply of gas to start a fire, but Mando was too tired. Too weary, to really struggle finding the supplies to start it.

After laying the kid down on the ground with his cloak draped over the boy, Mando sat down next to him with a grunt and slowly started examining his injuries. Wincing slightly at the pain, he used the hand held laser* to close the wound up on his upper arm, hissing at the burning sensation the laser gave him.

Since Mando too busy trying to heal himself, he didn’t notice when the child moved from his pod. Nor when it waddled its way up to him and reached out its little claw to his injured arm. At least not until he saw a slight movement in his peripheral vision. Surprised that such a tiny thing could even get out of its carriage, Mando gently picked it up and deposited back in the bundle of blankets. Sitting back down, he resumed the painful process of closing his injury, only to back track when he realized the imp was back again, with its eyes closed looking like it was constipated.

_Oh no. I’m not dealing with a poopy diaper, not now, not ever._ Mando thought to himself, inevitably missing the point.

Picking up the child again, he plopped it down and closed the hatch, not really in the mood for dealing with a baby. Sitting back down—again—with a heavy sigh, Mando continued his watch, not sleeping a wink till the sun rose again.

By sun rise, both kids where up and about.

XXXXX

Harry groaned, once more waking up a bit sore and hungry, sitting up he blindly fixed his glasses and cracked his eyes open. He snapped them shut again when the blinding sun shone too brightly for his sensitive eyes, causing the headache he woke up with to intensify.

Moaning softly at the pain, Harry rubbed his eyes, “Why me? I just want _one_ peaceful morning. Is that too much to ask?!”

“ **You and me both kid.** ”

Harry turned and glared at the direction the raspy voice came from, internally wincing at the spike of pain his sudden movement caused. Scowling, Harry turned his nose up in the air like he’d seen Malfoy do hundreds of times and ignored the masked man in favor of searching out for the child. Lighting up at the sight of the baby safe and well, Harry scrambled up to get closer to his sole companion on this insane journey, all the while ignoring the scoff of distain behind him.

Harry scooped up the child and started cooing at him while bouncing him up and down in the air, “ _Aw_ , did you sleep well? Did the rust bucket behind me scare you? Did he?”

Bucket-head made a noise of indignant sputtering, clearly offended on behalf of his (admittedly cool) helmet. The child however, just laughed in delight, happy that one of his favorite people was okay after the huge amount of energy he expelled the other day.

Tenderly placing the baby back down, Harry turned back to the pompous, space-cowboy wannabe and sniffed in contempt, “So? Where are we headed?” 

The shady asshat didn’t even acknowledge Harry’s question and instead started to move camp. The young wizard rolled his eyes at the immature way the mercenary was handling his attitude. Not that Harry was fearing much better, so what if he was being a bit petty and difficult. He had the right, after all the shit he’s been through! Harry felt justified in acting like a prat. This was the man who was selling them off for a bit of cash after all.

Huffing in annoyance, Harry followed the man, making sure to stay a couple of steps behind him where the child was floating happily. But apparently, that was a no go for the paranoid arse who barked at him to walk ahead where he could see him.

Stomping forward, Harry glowered as he walked past the ugly helmet-man, hating him even more for separating him and the child.

That’s how they spent the rest of the long walk. Harry occasionally shooting a glare behind him and trying to trip up their captor, and the Mandalorian completely ignoring the young boys’ tantrums with an occasional vindictive comment here and there. Yes, tensions where high and nothing seemed to lessen it. The child watched this all, greatly entertained by his new family’s back and forth interactions.

Eventually however, they reached their destination.

Harry peered down and was gratified to see some little creatures tearing apart what was clearly, the mercenaries’ form of transportation. _That should at least delay him from selling us to the highest bidder_ , he thought smugly to himself. The man in behind him on the other hand, clearly did not find this as amusing as Harry did. He cursed and dropped down, yanking Harry down with him, “Hey--!”

“ **Quiet**.” He growled, taking out his rifle looking weapon.

Aiming, he fired, and Harry was horrified to see the cloaked aliens _disintegrate_ before his eyes. That’s when he remembered seeing the tale end of that alien that attacked them before burst into ashes. At the time, Harry was too out of it to make heads or tales of what happened to the enemy, but now he had a front row seat of the carnage.

Gulping, Harry finally realized that this wasn’t a man to take lightly. This wasn’t a game. He could have been _dead_ if this guy really wanted him to be, and Harry wouldn’t have seen it coming. Trembling slightly at the revelation, the boy-who-lived was sick to his stomach when remembering all those instances he tried to provoke the armored mercenary.

He clenched his fist, resolved in not uttering another word in case his big mouth gets him killed. Unlike with Snape, Harry had no Dumbledore to back him up. No one who would stop this man from ending his life. It was a scary thought. Hysterically, Harry wondered why it was that _this man_ terrified him more than Voldemort ever could.

So lost in thought, Harry almost tripped when he was suddenly wrenched forward by the masked man as they gave chase to the giant metal vehicle. He gaped at the huge moving fortress and gawked uncomprehending at the back of his captor as he ran to catch up to the stronghold. What was he **doing**?! What did he think he was going to accomplish?!

Sometime during their sprint, Harry had been let go of and was now struggling to keep up with the long strides of the grown man before him. This was a first for Harry as usually it was the other way around for him. _He_ was the one running ahead and it was others struggling to catch up. To be fair, Harry was chained up and couldn’t really make use of his arms, the weight of the cuffs also caused his arms to strain.

At this point, Harry was severely lagging behind and was panting under the hot sun of this alien planet. Spotting the form of the poor sap laying on the ground, he screeched to a stop. Bending down and putting his hands on his knees to support his exhausted body, Harry panted, sweat dripping down his back.

“What the…*pant*…bloody hell…*pantpant*…. _was_ this **idiot thinking?!** ” Harry gasped out, trying to catch his breath. He lightly kicked the unconscious man’s armor, feeling satisfied at the slight sound of metal being hit. This moron was making Harry question his resolve in not insulting him again. Seriously, what sort of _blockhead_ chased after a freakin’ metal-moving monstrosity with an unknown number of those short alien-things in it?! Harry was done. Absolutely done.

(He also conveniently ignored the fact that he was also guilty of such bone-headedness when he tried to take on over a hundred dementors for the sake of a man he’d only known a few hours).

Sighing, Harry crouched down and continuously poked the shiny helmet, “Hey…hey…hey~ Are you dead?”

Remarkably, the guy actually woke up. Despite this, he continued to annoyingly poke the bear—figuratively speaking of course. Propping his head with his hand, Harry gazed down at the awakening an, “You know—you kinda make it hard for me to keep my distance. Your just so…. _fun_ to mess with.” He paused, “A bit like Snape I suppose.”

“ **Please shut up.** ”

Harry grinned cheekily, “Your alive! That’s great!”

XXX

Mando groaned, infuriated by the insolent brat, he swears he’s aged a decade since meeting him. Heaving himself up, he eyed the tracks the Jawas left in despair. Great. How where they ever going to get back to the meeting point now?

“Soooo…Now what?” The kid voiced exactly what Mando was thinking.

Dusting himself off the Mandalorian responded, “ **Now, we walk.** ”

He ignored the pouting child and continued their journey, only this time they headed in a different direction. It had occurred to Mando that he wasn’t completely stranded without help, he could go back and ask the Ugnaught for help. As much as it pained him to trouble the old man again, however it was necessary.

Although…he eyed the kids from the corner of his eye. Perhaps the brat could do that voodoo stuff again. Maybe his freaky powers could fix his ship. Mando shook his head at the absurd thought, even if the annoyance could do that, it would render him unconscious again and he wasn’t really looking forward to _that_ fall out. Besides, he doubted that the kid would do anything of the sort after telling the him straight forward that he was going to be sold off.

The sky darkend again by the time they managed to find the Ugnaughts dwelling. Around halfway, Mando had to haul the kid onto his back because he was lagging too much, slowing down their pace. The Ugnaught didn’t seem too surprised at the Mandalorians’ reappearance, then again, Mando wasn’t really good at reading him.

“I’m surprised made it out alive.”

“ **You weren’t expecting me to?** ”

“No.” He bluntly told him.

Mando silently mouthed a “wow” under his helmet, while rolling his eyes at the little faith this Ugnaught had in him.

“So, this is what all the fuss is about? Two exhausted children?”

“ **One of them has abilities I’ve never seen before.** ”

“Ah,” The old Ugnaught nodded sagely, “A Force user then?”

“ **A what?** ”

He ignored Mando in favor of inspecting the kids. Mando prushed it off, seeing it as one of the Ugnaught’s quirks and instead said, “ **My ship was stripped by Jawas, I need your help.** ”

“I see. We will have to find them and trade for the parts.”

The brat who had been suspiciously silent until then, piped up, “But why are we going to trade when they _stole_ them.” He questioned, peering over Mando’s shoulder at the small man.

Mando nodded his head, for once agreeing with the teen, “ **Exactly. Those are _my_ parts. They stole them.**”

The Ugnaught shook his head in denial, “The Jawas do not steal. They scavenge and trade.”

“ **But—** ”

“I have spoken.”

And with those parting words, the Ugnaught disappeared into his dwelling. They stood there in silence, the only sound was of the child laughing and giggling while chasing a desert frog. Then the brat had the gal to snicker, “Heh, he shut you up really good. Maybe I should start saying that.” Then he lifted his hands up to an imaginary crowd and deepened his voice, mimicking the Ugnaught, “ _I have spoken.”_

Mando dropped the child in response.

The kid hit the ground with a thud. Rubbing his head, the little terror glowered up at him, “Hey! What was that for?!”

“ **Your annoying.** ” He said and walked off.

Behind him, Mando could hear the teenager ask the child, “What crawled up his ass?” Followed along by a shriek of horror, “No! Don’t eat that! It’s alive!” 

Mando found himself whipping around in time to see the green baby swallow the frog he had been chasing whole with the kid frantically waving his hands around, “Wha! Are you okay?! Does your stomach hurt?!”

After confirming that they both where alright, Mando shook his head in exasperation and turned around to walk inside, instinctively trusting that the two children would follow him in. Sure enough, once the eldest calmed himself down, he walked in with the green imp in his arms, staring at the interior of the modest building.

The Ugnaught ushered them to a small table, giving them each a bowl of stew, “Its not much, but it will fill you up.”

Mando, following The Way, did not reach for his bowl and instead politely waited for the others to finish their food first before hiding and gulping down his. Next to him, the teen was guzziling the stew down as if he hadn’t—oh. Oh! Mando felt stupid for not realizing it before, the low energy, even before doing that weird shield-thing, and the lack of fat on the kid all pointed to the fact that he was starved— _is_ starving.

Under the table, Mando clenched his fist, shame filling him up. He should have fed the children before; it was counterproductive to starve them. He wanted to take them in _alive_ , not half starved to death.

“Can I—” Mando stared down at the suddenly shy child beside him, feeling something squeeze his heart. The kid hesitated, glancing at him as if he were going to stop him from getting more food, “Can I…have some more?”

The Ugnaught readily agreed, “Yes, of course. You seem like you need a good fattening up.”

Mando startled and realized that, yes, the poor kid did look a little malnourished, in fact… His hand snatched out and gently wrapped around the child’s wrist. Mando was unhappy to note that he could have easily snapped the teen’s wrist with how thin it was.

The kid startled at his sudden movement and jerked out of his grasp, flinching as if expecting a blow. Not able to take the emotions filling him up, Mando quickly excused himself and walked out with his bowl in hand.

XXXX

Harry gazed at the retreating back of the mercenary in confusion. What just happened? The boy wizard didn’t know how to react to the sudden shift of emotions the man had. Was he bipolar or something?

“No. The Mandalorian just came to a sudden realization, that is all.”

Harry jumped at the sudden intrusion of the small ape-like man, “Did I say that out loud?”

“Yes.”

“Oh…” Harry trailed of, trying to think of what the old man meant, “What do you mean? What realization?”

The white-haired old man just gazed knowingly at him and handed Harry his second serving of stew. Harry dug in with less gusto this time, irritated at the fact that, even a universe away, he still managed to find a cryptic old man that reminded him of Dumbledore. The child cooed, having sensed Harry’s melancholy mood, and was trying to distract him for it. Unfortunately, it didn’t work.

Smiling weakly at the child, Harry continued to brood.

The next day, they where off to find the Jawas, or so Harry was told they where called. Currently, he was smugly riding his own blurrg after winning the earlier argument. The Mandalorian (as he found out the mercenary was named), tried to insist that Harry rode with him, something about not wanting the liability of him potentially running away. Harry scoffed at that, where was he going to go? As far as he knew, there was nothing but desert for miles. What was he supposed to eat if he ran? No, it was better to stay here. Safer that way too.

Alas, the Mandalorian didn’t see it that way and tried to wrestle the wiggling child onto the cart with him. Luckily, the old man interfered and said, “Nonsense! The boy is old enough to ride his own blurrg!”

“ **But I—”**

“I have spoken.”

And that was that. Now, the Mandalorian was sulking a few paces behind Harry with the babe securely settled next to him. Content at the fact that Harry now was chain free _and_ had his own ride thanks to Kuiil (they had exchanged names after the old man had come to his rescue), he asked, “How far do you think those Jawas went?”

“Not far,” Kuiil responded, “They usually stop to set up shop soon after obtaining their goods.”

A few paces behind in the cart they heard the Mandalorian mumble, “ **Stolen**.” Which was ignored by them both.

“Great.” Harry chirped, “Thanks for letting us ride these…blurrgs?”

Kuiil nodded to indicate that Harry had the correct term for their tadpole-like steeds. Harry continued, “Its much better than **walking**.” Here he raised his voice so that the Mandalorian could hear his displeasure at having to walk for such a long time clearly.

Kuiil snorted at the relationship those two where clearly developing despite their balant denil of such a thing occurring.

“I see them!” Harry suddenly shouted out in excitement. To which the Mandalorian replied with a hiss, “ **Keep it down, they’ll hear you!** ”

The Ugnaught weaved his gloved hand in dismissal, “No, no. It’s alright Mandalorian, we want to trade with them. Not hunt them down.”

Harry threw a smirk Mando’s way and followed Kuiil down to meet the Jawas who were now slightly panicking at the sight of their previous assassin. The Ugnaught said something in their language that Harry guessed was some sort of greeting, their response however made Harry think twice about this plan to trade. Clearly, they weren’t too keen on exchanging with their comrade’s murderer.

“You might want to put your rifle down.”

“I’m a Mandalorian. Weapons are part of my religion.”

“Then you’re not getting your parts back.”

Harry raised his brow, curious as to what the man was going to do now when backed into a corner. The Mandalorian sighed in response and clearly quite reluctant to do so, put his weapon down.

Harry got off the blurrg with a soft thump and stayed behind with the little green child while the other two negotiated with the Jawas. Feeling a bit bad for ignoring the cute child with everything that was going on, Harry tried to teach it _patty cake_ , something he saw other kids do when he was younger but never had anyone that would play with him.

He was startled when, a quarter of the way in teaching the child the game, he heard the Mandalorian shout, “ **Get away from them!** ”

Looking up, Harry realized that a couple of Jawas had gathered around, intrigued by both children and the game they were playing. Paying more attention to the ongoing conversation, Harry was concerned when he heard the mounting frustration in the Mandalorian’s voice.

“ **Those are my parts, you stole them from me!** ”

The Jawa leading the discussion, said something and the Mandalorian responded back in their language. Harry was impressed, he didn’t know that the mercenary could speak Jawanese. Although, it was apparent that he couldn’t speak it fluently by the round of laugher his response garnered.

Evidently done with debate, the Mandalorian snarled, “ **You understand this?** ” and tried to fry the closest Jawa with his flame thrower. Kuiil quickly stopped him from doing any permanent damage and desperately tried to salvage the situation, “Surley there is something we can give you in exchange for the parts?”

The Jawas obviously did have something else in mind because soon they where all chanting the same thing. Harry now wanted to know exactly what they where saying.

“The Egg? What Egg?”

_Thank you, Mandalorian_ , Harry thought to himself, glad that he now knew the general idea behind what was happening thanks to Mando.

A few minutes later, they where all catching a ride in the Jawas moving fortress, heading to who-knows-where to get some sort of egg. Harry found himself surrounded by Jawas who kept trying to touch his hair and where poking at his strange clothes. One of them tugged at his shirt and said something that sounded like a question to him. Turning to Kuiil, he asked, “What did he say?”

“ _She_ , asked if you could teach them that game you taught the little one.”

“Ah.” Harry looked back down at the female Jawa and nodded his head, sitting down, he indicated with his hand for the others to follow. Soon, he was showing the lot of them how to play all types of games.

Sadly, their fun was cut off when it was announced that they had arrived at their destination. Lowering the hatch, Harry was disappointed to see they where still in the desert, hoping to see something other than the dull orange and brown of the rocks and sand around them.

“What kind of egg do they want.” Harry asked.

“I’m not sure. However, I have my suspicions.” Kuiil replied, seeming a bit troubled by his so called ‘suspicions’.

Also feeling a bit ill at ease, Harry walked forward until he was standing in fron t of the Mandalorian, “I’m coming with you.”

“No.”

Harry spluttered at the quick response to his demand and was left standing there as the Mandalorian walked ahead, the child trailing behind him. Harry crossed his arms and frowned, grumbling, “Oh so you won’t take me but you’ll take the baby instead? How’s that any better?”

“It’s his collateral.” Kuiil responded to Harry’s muttering.

“What?” Harry looked at the Ugnaught, confused as to what that meant.

“He knows you won’t run if he has the child, and he doesn’t trust the Jawas enough to leave it here.”

Harry sighed, “I guess that make sense, still…”

The old Ugnaught finished his sentence, “You do not like it.”

Harry nodded in confirmation, still feeling like something big was about to happen. It was a six sense that he had always listened to, it had gotten him out of dangerous situations before, so Harry knew to always listen to it.

Minutes ticked by, and Harry started fidgeting.

Then hours, now he was pacing, occasionally looking up to see if the Mandalorian was anywhere in sight. But Harry wasn’t the only one restless, the Jawas too started murmuring amongst one another until finally one of them spoke up. Kuiil, the only one who understood Jawanese, begged for them to wait, “Just a little longer.”

Harry was really panicking now. What happened? Where they okay? Did they get lost or…? Harry gulped at that train of thought and was wringing his threadbare shirt, anxious at what this could mean for him and Kuiil. The Gryffindor was so worried that his knees almost buckled in relief when he saw the Mandalorian accompanied by the sleeping child in the distance, relatively safe.

He found himself running up to them, too nervous to wait any longer. Stopping in front of the muddied man, Harry rapidly blurt out questions, “Are you okay?! Do you need a doctor?! What about the baby?! Is it okay?! Did you find the Egg?! What took you so long?!”

He would have kept going if not for the hand that was tenderly put on his head, “I’ve got the Egg, don’t worry.”

Harry gazed up wide eyed as the Mandalorian ruffled his hair and walked on to meet the cheering Jawas. The young boy stood there in shock, lifting his hand up to touch where the Mandalorian’s hand was just touching him. Feeling an inexplicable swell of—of _something_ , well up in him.

The spell was broken however when Harry’s hand came back with mud smeared all over it, “What the f—”

“Language!” Mando called back, obviously smirking under that stupid-ass rust bucket.

Harry growled, “That’s dirty, you—you jerk! Pinhead! _Ninny_!”

The Mandalorian just laughed, not taking Harry’s insults seriously which only served to aggravate the teen more. Harry slinked back towards Kuiil and flopped onto the carriage with his back towards the Mandalorian, pouting.

That’s how Harry fell asleep, with mud crusting his hair. Missing the resulting conversation between Mando and Kuiil about the child, him, and their possible origins. He also slept through the whole night, oblivious to the sounds of them fixing the spaceship.

Later, Harry would stretch and claim it was the best sleep he had, ignorant of the bags under the Mandalorians’ eyes. Merely thanking the Ugnaught for all his hard work (Mando sneered at the obvious snub from the impudent brat).

And just like that, Harry’s adventure on the desert planet ended.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Wow. Wowee-wow-wow. I can’t believe I wrote all this in one day. It was rushed, but I made the deadline! In case you guys haven’t noticed; I’ve been trying to post a new chapter every Wednesday. Regrettably, I hit a writers block in starting this chapter. I just. Couldn’t. Get. Words. Out. What is writing, really? Anyways! I hope you guys liked this EH chapter (for me anyways), so please comment and tell me what you think. Until next time! XD  
> *What is that thing called that Mando tried to use to close up his injury? Does it have a name cuz I’m having a hard time Googling it.  
> *What do Mandalorians swear by? Like, when you say “Oh My God” What is “God” for them? Lol, I feel like I’m not making any sense. Do you guys even get what I’m saying?  
> Preview: “Are you two related?” “What?” “…Nevermind.” “No, nonono. Go ahead, I want to hear what kind of rubbish comes out of your mouth today.” “I hate you.” “I love you too.” “…”


	5. The Betrayal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Mando's relationship takes two steps back.

This was it. Harry didn’t know why he was expecting better. It was his fault, really. He shouldn’t have gotten so close. Should have continued to hate the Manadalorian. But Harry was too soft hearted, and it helped when instead of throwing them into some sort of cage once they left Kuiil far behind, the Mandalorian allowed Harry to watch him maneuver the ship. He even taught him how to shoot the blasters!

Except, the closer they got to their final destination, the more the armored mercenary drew away from them. He shut them out, and if Harry was honest—it _hurt_. It hurt to have yet another adult turn away from him. It hurt to know that this—whatever this is—was going to end. Harry had his fair share of unreliable adults in his life, so one would think that he’d be used to this by now. But he wasn’t. So it hurt all the more.

Because Harry knew that they would inevitably arrive. He too, shut himself off. No longer speaking to the Mandalorian, Harry only fed and entertained the little one. No longer did he tease and pester, and no longer did he smile. Instead, he just sat quietly, gazing off into the abyss. Ignoring when the doe eyed child who was bored and tried to take the top of a lever, wanting to play with it. Harry also valiantly ignored how the Mandalorian gently shooed the babe away from the controls, picking it up by the scruff of it’s clothes when the child didn’t obey. As the Mandalorian turned around to lay the child back in its crib, Harry avoided looking at him, clenching his fist at the close proximity.

It wasn’t fair. How could someone who wanted to turn them in for money still be so kind to their bounty? Clearly, this was a way to lull them into a false sense of security. Harry should have seen this coming. He shouldn’t have let his guard down. _Should-a, would-a, could-a,_ Harry bitterly thought to himself, _its always the same thing._ He held back bitter tears, he wanted to go home. He missed Sirius. He missed his friends. He missed—

No. Harry shook his head, he wasn’t going down that path again. It would do him no good to wallow in self pity, besides, Harry glanced at the adorable child, he had something he needed to protect. Hermione would tell him that he’s just using that excuse to lock away his emotions, to throw himself into the fire where he would eventually crash and burn. But Harry didn’t care; he _couldn’t_ bring himself to care.

Lifting his chin up, and giving the child a small crooked smile, Harry was ready. Ready to run again. Ready, to **fight**.

But first, he gazed at the round hilt of the lever the green baby had been eyeing and grinned, he was going to take _that_. The Mandalorian made a grave mistake, he underestimated just how _petty_ Harry could be. The boy-wizard knew that this particular lever controlled the thrusters, he also knew a little bit about psychological warfare (what? He got bored sometimes okay?). So by taking that small little thing that was already associated with the little green bean child with how many times it tried to grab it, the Mandalorian would have no choice but to think of what he’d done to them once they where long gone! It was brilliant!

If Harry could, he’d be cackling and rubbing his hands together in delight. It wasn’t much, but it would probably bother the Mandalorian for the rest of his life, in fact, Harry was sure of it. The Mandalorian might have been a mercenary, but the few instances Harry caught him interacting with the child was enough to conclude that the so-called “cold hearted bounty hunter" was really soft for children (or maybe it was this particular child he was fond of). Either way, it was going to be the Mandalorian’s downfall.

Now, how to swipe that orb…

XXX

Mando felt something inside him curl up and die when he saw just how much him pulling away meant to the boy. Hell, even the child knew something was up. It’s just… He couldn’t afford to get close only to lose them. That was just too painful to even think about. But those damn brats just wiggled they’re way in, and it wasn’t like they broke his walls down. No, no. They _squirmed_ their way in…like maggots. So now Mando had to do pest control and patch up the holes they made.

It should have been simple. Mando had lived most of his life in solitary, so why was it so hard? It was like pulling away from the heat of a fire and drenching yourself in the cold rain again when all you wanted to do was cuddle closer to the warmth. Yet, Mando managed to push through and took steps away from that warm shelter. Only for him to look back longingly when the stupid, _idiotic_ brat to draw into himself.

The kid was obviously hurting and kept shooting him a sad kicked puppy dog look when he thought he wasn’t looking. But he was. And damn them for making him look. Just the other day he saw both children cuddling together while they dozed. It was probably the most _adorable_ thing he had ever saw…. Which is why he had to roughly shake them awake in case he ended up tucking them in too. It was ridiculous. The next thing he knows he’s going to read them a bed time story! Ha!

No. It was best to just get this over with. So he turned a blind eye to the kiddos suffering and continued with his initial plan. Although… He couldn’t ignore the feeling that he was going to regret brushing the kid off. Mando, felt a shiver go down his spine and had to force himself to not turn around in alarm when he felt a malicious intent oozing from behind him before completely vanishing.

Fuck.

He was going to regret this, wasn’t he?

Sighing, he landed the Razor Crest. Making sure both children were where they were supposed to be, Mando slapped the iron cuffs back on the teen, blatantly ignoring the fierce glare he received in return. It was for the best, the Mandalorian kept repeating that over and over in his head like a mantra, clinging to it like a scared child would to his mother.

“ **Let’s go**.” He roughly said, pushing the child forward gently despite his better judgment.

They marched, or more like, the boy marched. Back straight and chin up, clearly not letting Mando’s decision drag him down. He bit back a grin, the brat had guts he’ll give him that, if they where his foundling they would definitely kick ass.

Wait.

_His foundlings??!_

Mando stumbled mid stride causing both children to look back at him in confusion. By the stars! What was wrong with him?! Mando was once again glad that people couldn’t see his face which he was sure was red in embarrassment. He scowled, it was as if he was _evaar'la_ again. Not one to give up face, he continued his trek through the market as if he hadn’t just lost his footing. Cool, calm, collected--that's what he was: like a stream, or a moon.

Reaching the meeting point and knocking the door, he looked down to see the child cooing up worriedly at him with the boy narrowing his eyes at the door in dislike. Once they entered the building after showing his identification chip, they where greeted by multiple imperial troopers. Mando tensed when one of them harshly wrenched the baby’s crib forward, while another yanked on the teen’s chains causing him to stumble.

“ **Take it easy!** ” Mando growled, clenching his teeth when the _clone_ gave him attitude.

“ _You_ take it easy!”

His hand twitched toward his blaster, itching to put a hole through the assholes head, but he refrained. It wouldn’t do to kill the Clients bodyguards, now would it? At least not till he got his Beskar.

“Ah! I see your reputation proceeds you, Mandalorian. Though I was beginning to worry that we might never retrieve the assets.”

The Doctor from before—Dr. Pershing—examined the child, elated at the fact it was alive and well. Scanning the child who whimpered and tried to move away from the invading red light, Dr. Pershing also declared that it was healthy before moving on to the boy, frowning at the results, “The Child seems to be in perfect condition, however… The boy is severely malnourished. I’ll have to do some additional tests to determine just how far the damage is.”

Client grabbed the boys chin, forcefully turning his face this way and that, “How interesting, to know one such as yourself has made its way to this side of the cosmos.”

The kid widened his eyes, clearly shocked at the gibberish the Client spewed out. Mando could guess that the child’s—no—the _children’s_ abilities were the cause of such a bounty on their head, though that didn’t explain _why_ the Client aimed it towards one and not both. After what he had seen in Arvala-7, Mando would assume that they came from the same quadrant.

The children where rounded up and taken through the door way off to the side, and only the babe cried out to him. The boy just walked ahead, not looking back. Ouch. That hurt. Not that he blamed him… Mando bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from doing anything rash. He’d been over this. It was for the _best—the best for **who**?_—this made him pause. Who was it best for? Certainly not them. Was he really so selfish to leave those kids in the hands of the Empire?

Mando turned to walk out, Beskar in hand.

Yes.

Yes, he was.

XXXX

Harry paid no attention to anyone or anything, in fact, he felt dumb; unable to process anything. At least until that “client" guy grasped his chin, then Harry had to restrain himself from biting his hand—partly because he knew it could get him in _more_ trouble (despite what many think, he did have some restraint), and who knows where that hands been? He could have that disease, uh…pandaids or raids or something like that. (It was AIDS).

“How interesting, to know one such as yourself has made its way to this side of the cosmos.”

What.

Did he hear that correctly?

Did this old man really know where Harry was actually from? How?! Where **they** responsible for bringing him here?! Harry really wanted answers; but as always, none where forthcoming.

Keeping his mouth shut (Snape would be thrilled) and head down, Harry followed as they took the child through another door.

“Ahhwahh!” The green baby wailed out, reaching for the Mandalorian, and Harry clenched his teeth in anger. Harry wasn’t angry at the child, it was after all, still a baby, it didn’t understand the fact that the mercenary had just traded them for some useless chunks of metal. _It’s not even gold!_ Harry hysterically thought to himself, not sure if he was offended by that fact or –yeah, nope. He was offended. But more than that, Harry was **_pissed_** , he wanted to make the child realize just how _betrayed_ he was. He wanted to shout: ‘ _Why are you clinging to him?! He left us with these sketchy people! He threw us way! He doesn’t care! He. Left. **Us!!’**_ But he didn’t, because it wasn’t the child’s fault. It was his.

_Maybe if I was better._

The thing was, Harry sort of had an abandonment issue. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that, for the longest time, he thought he was abandoned outside the Dursleys house before they told him his parents where dead (he had to ask to clarify that misunderstanding). Or maybe that no one believed him when he told them that the Dursleys where abusing him, leaving Harry to fend for himself. Possibly, he was just insecure of his role in life, not knowing who you are or what you want to do can really mess with a person. Which bring us back to the reason why the Mandalorian left them.

Never mind that, from the get-go, the Mandalorian told them he **was** going to turn them in. Harry just—he just thought that they _had bonded_ , you know? He thought that, maybe—just maybe, the Mandalorian would take them in and help Harry get home.

 _All adults are disappointing_ , the Gryffindor bitterly thought to himself while a trudged forward.

They wend down a hall way and into another room, this one decked in all sorts of advanced muggle technology. Just as he was about to follow the wimpy looking guy with glasses (why does it feel like he just described himself), one of those soldiers with a similar helmet and armor style to the Mandalorian—but a blinding white—wrenched his arm and pulled him in the opposite directing.

“Hey!” Harry struggled vehemently, not liking the fact that he was being separated from the child, “Let me go!”

The child, no longer having its one constant companion since the beginning of this whole ordeal, really started to sob. Its cries echoed throughout the room, becoming more powerful with each breath.

Harry struggled harder, kicking and punching anything that was close, but it was no use. Without his magic or a weapon, Harry was dragged away, screaming as he tried to reach back to the child. The child, who was hysterical at this point, was squirming making the man with glasses take out a long needle that had even Harry flinching when he plunged it into the babe, clearly shaken by the big fat tears rolling down _both_ of their faces. Whatever was in that needle immediately knocked out the little green alien, and Harry soon lost sight of them when they turned around a corner.

Now Harry could clearly feel the buzz of his magic gathering under his skin—it was reacting to his distress. Sadly, before Harry could release the bent-up energy of his magic, he felt the something heavy slam into the back of his head causing him to sprawl forward. As darkness claimed his vision Harry’s last thought was: _Not again!_

\----

Harry leapt up as soon as consciousness returned to his body, ready to lash out at anyone near him only to find that he was once again chained up and alone. Stumbling at the sudden head-rush he felt from standing up too quickly, Harry scowled, “Great. Why am I always getting knocked out?! It’s like I’m a damsel in distress! This never happened to me at Hogwarts!”

Rubbing his throbbing head Harry examined the thick chains wrapped around him like boa constructors. Luckily, he could still feel his magic buzzing inside him. Concentration and willing his magic to unlock the chains, the young wizard thought of everything that was in stake. The child is probably strapped down somewhere, crying. _He_ was strapped down somewhere, not crying exactly, but Harry felt like he would if his magic didn’t work.

_Clink_

The numerous chains fell around him uselessly and Harry celebrated, “Yes! Take **that!** I don’t _need_ anyone; I can save myself!” Triumphant and confident in his escape plan, Harry sprinted out the room, the idiots hadn’t even locked the door!

Carefully, Harry dodged any patrolling white soldiers and used his magic sparingly—the boy-who-lived felt like every time he used magic, it would drain him a little more…a bit like a battery, he supposed. Harry needed to make this “battery” last. Quietly jumping from one hiding spot to another, he painstakingly slowly made his way back to the doorway he remembered the child being taken through. He’d already lost precious time as it is when he got nocked out, _for the third time in a row_. Who knows what they where doing to the helpless child now? Harry swore that if he found them torturing or experimenting on the babe, he was going to go all _Golden Boy_ on their asses (Ron once called his rage and magical surges as his “Golden Boy” moments because of how he tended to take on a _golden_ _hue_ ; Harry thought Ron was being ridiculous).

Finally finding the door, Harry decided to forgo any

Finally finding the door, Harry decided to forgo any plan and bust in guns blazing, figuratively speaking of course. Fortunately, there was only one guard inside so Harry was able to quickly knock him out with a quick _Stupify._

“What! Kid! What the hell are you doing here?!”

“Saving the child, Asshole!”

Harry raised his hand and pointed, wanting to get this over and done with. He was tired, hungry, and needed a shower (when was the last time, he had a good bath?), talking it out with the enemy was not something he had the patience for right now.

The doctor threw his hands up, waving them around in slight panic, “Wait! Wait, wait! I’m not a bad guy!”

The Gryffindor scoffed and rolled his eyes, “Really? ‘Cuz from where I’m standing that doesn’t seem to be the case!”

“W-Well, I—”

Harry had enough, he wasn’t here to negotiate, he was here to get his tiny companion out. Not to listen to this spineless man in front of him who wanted to get out of a dangerous situation with sickly sweet words, Harry was done. With a flick of his wrist, the doctor was too, knocked unconscious.

Scooping up the knocked-out alien baby and clutching him close, Harry ran blindly through the building, praying that his good luck would hold up.

It was not to be.

Harry had slammed into something hard causing him to fall on his butt, still holding on to the child. Grunting in pain, he looked up to snarl at the one responsible only for him to freeze in shock.

“ **You** /You!”

Standing there, in all his glory, was the Mandalorian.

XXXX

Turning away from the children was probably one of the hardest decisions Mando had ever made. Coming back for them on the other hand, was the easiest.

He tried to leave them. He really did. But then the Armorer suggested giving him the signet of a Mudhorn and he had to refuse. What would the creed think of him when they found out just what the bounty was? Would they understand the heartbreak he felt when living those helpless kids behind? Then the Armorer asked, “ **Why would an enemy help you?** ” and that hit him hard. Indeed, why would an enemy help him when he was so clearly going to abandon them in the hands of the Empire? Easy. Because his “enemy” is a baby. A baby that has no concept of right and wrong, good or evil. And he just condemned it.

By the time he spoke to Greef Karga, Mando felt the weight of what he’d done pulling him down. Each step felt like he’d gained a thousand pounds. So when he got up to leave the bar, he paused and just had to ask, “What are they going to do with them?”

The answer was less than satisfactory. Yet, Mando continued his way to the Razor Crest, never looking back.

Mando almost thought he would go through with it. That he would get on his spacecraft and fly to the edge of the galaxy for his new bounty, maybe forget about this whole ordeal. But then….

But then he saw the handle on the lever missing, and Mando new that this was the universe telling him; _Go Back_. He’ll admit, he hesitated at first, desperately trying to grasp at straws on _why_ he shouldn’t do this. _I don’t know how to raise kids; I don’t know how to change a diaper! What about money? I can’t feed both kids and myself! What about the guild? Doing this would surely put the kids and the Mandalorians in danger!_ Even as he ranted, Mando powered down the Razor Crest, strapped up his weapons, and marched through the town.

Finding the empty crib of the child in the garbage was—was not something he expected. The Doctor from before seemed relieved at the fact that the child was healthy but perhaps that was just because then his _research_ wouldn’t be impeded by faulty data. Oh yeah, he was going to **kick some Imperial ass**.

Now more determined than ever, Mando walked right up to the front entrance and banged on the door. His plan was simple, break their doorbell, cause a distraction, blow up their wall, and _fuck shit up_. See? Simple. This plan was made easier when he turned around a corner after shanking the hell out of a couple of storm-troopers and bumped into his quarry.

“ **You** /You!”

The kid glared up at him (wow, he really was short for his supposed age), “What are _you_ doing here?!” he hissed.

Rude. He was here to save them, obviously, and Mando told him exactly that. If possible, the brat bristled up even more, retorting, “Yeah, well, we don’t need your help!”

This ungrateful little shit.

Mando then noticed the unnatural stillness of the green baby, “ **What happened?** ”

The boy frowned, glancing down at the sleeping child, “I don’t know. We where separated as soon as you left.” He then looked back up at him and scowled, “So? Why do you _care_?”

Mando’s patience was running thin, they still had to get off this hunter infested planet! Luckily, or unluckily depending on who you where asking, they were interrupted by even more imperial troopers.

“Freeze!”

As one, both him and the boy turned their backs to one another and dealt with the troopers on either side of the hallway before turning back to each other again, “ **Listen kiddo, we don’t have time to argue. This place is swarming with troopers and hunters alike and I’d like to live till tomorrow, okay?** ” The young teen sharply nodded, apparently seeing the logic behind Mandos’s statement.

Honestly, Mando thought that he would have to do most of the fighting, he was the more experienced of them two and the boy had his hands full with the child. So it came as quite the surprise when the kid was able to keep up with him _and_ take out a few storm-troopers with his wacky voodoo powers. _The kids’ got skills, but there’s much to be improved on. Maybe when this is over I—Nope! No way am I going to train him, it’s not my place._

He took out his gun and shot at the trooper behind him, killing him in an instant all without looking back.

“Woa!”

Mando glanced up to see the boy gazing back at him with awe in his eyes, “How did you do that?!”

“ **Hm?** **How did I do what?** ”

The kid pointed back to the fallen trooper and gestured towards his gun, “That! How did you hit him without looking?!”

Mando smirked smugly, chest swelling up in pride, “ **Pure skills.** ”

His answer must have snapped the boy out of his amazement because he rolled his eyes and turned away, “Whatever. Bet it took you a long time to even be able to do that.”

Never mind, that pride he felt there? Yeah, that was viciously stomped on by the brat. It _had_ taken him years of training to be able to sense enemies from behind, constantly training with a blind fold on until he was able to dodge the strikes made from his teacher. Still, Mando couldn’t help but straighten up when he saw the awe in the brat’s eyes.

“ **Geez kid, you’re killing me here.** ”

 _Bang!_ Yet another batch of clones arrived, surrounding them, “Hands up! Drop your blasters!”

“ **Alright. What the kids holding is valuable, let him put it down.** ”

Mando willed the child to understand his plan, they didn’t have time for arguments or hesitation. To his relief, the brat did have some braincells and slowly crouched down. Once he was low enough, Mando released his recently acquired whistling birds. They took out the clones like they where nothing, and he was once again treated to the sight of the kids wide-eyed wonder.

“ **Let’s go.** ”

(A couple of blocks away, a bar full of bounty hunters had their tracking fobs activated.)

They managed to make it out with little fanfare after that, sticking close to the shadows until they reached the main road. Stopping just before they stepped out to the open, Mando took off his cloak and bundled it up into a ball and held it as if it contained the child within its folds.

“ **Here’s the plan, I will draw any potential enemies in by pretending to have the child, you will stay here and hide behind that crate,** ” He pointed towards a giant box where people obviously dumped their unwanted things in, the boy wrinkled his nose in distaste, “ **Until I clear a safe path for you, then I want you to run as fast as you can towards my ship. Do you understand?** ”

“Yes.”

Mando nodded his head, “ **Good. Stay safe.** ” And off he went into the heart of the fire, tensely walking forward, aware of the many eyes following him.

Just as he predicted, he was soon surrounded. Glancing at the spot where he left the kids, Mando was relieved to see that the brat had listened to his orders and ran as soon as everyone’s attention was on him, giving the kids a chance to sprint to the Razor Crest unhindered.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Mando! Welcome back! Now, but the package down.”

He muffled the urge he had to scoff at such a cliché line. Clearly, Greef Karga had been watching too many cowboy movies.

“ **Step aside, I’m going to my ship.** ”

“You put the bounty down and perhaps I’ll let you pass.”

“ **The kid’s coming with me.** ”

“If you truly cared about the kid, then you’d put it on the speeder.”

 _If I truly cared about the kid then I **wouldn’t** put him on the speeder, _Mando mentally retorted to such a stupid request. He tried to make his voice sound more vulnerable, “ **How do I know I can trust you?** ”

Going by the disbelieving scoff in Greef’s voice, he failed, “Because I’m your only hope.”

Looking down at the “child” in his arms, Mando tried to think of a way out of this mess. The kiddos where hopefully safe and back on his ship by now so any action he takes now would decide his fate at the hands of the Guild.

Making a hasty decision, Mando shot the closest hunter with his blaster and jumped, twisting around so that he would land on the speeder. Pointing his gun and shooting any hunter that got too close, he growled at the droid (ugh droids) manning the cart, “ **Drive.** ” When the stupid droid didn’t do as he said, Mando roared and pointed his blaster threateningly, “ **Drive!** ”

Unfortunately, Greef managed to disable the droid causing the cart to crash. It wasn’t looking good for Mando, he was surrounded with no back up and two kids waiting for him at the ship. He slung his rifle out and aimed at one of the goons on the roof, disintegrating him before quickly moving on to his next victim.

The bounty hunters saw what his weapon could do and many of them sifted and ducked away in fear. Even Greef seemed a bit frightened by the powerful weapon, “That’s one impressive weapon!”

Ignoring Greef’s attempts at small talk, Mando said, “ **Here’s what I’m gonna do. I’m going to walk to my ship with the kid and your gonna let it happen.** ”

“How ‘bout this! We, get the kid, and if you try to stop us, we kill you and strip your body for parts!”

Good. They thought he only had one kid, that would through them off from finding them for a bit. It also helped that they thought he had it in his arms. What a bunch of idiots. Why the hell would he bring a baby to a gun fight?!

Speaking of, he was now out of options. Mando could only hope that the brat would realize that he was a lost cause and fly the Razor Crest out of here; he did teach the boy a bit about flying his spacecraft.

Just when Mando thought all hope was lost and he was mourning the fact that he couldn’t do _more_ for his kids. His people arrived. Mandalorians from the local covert all flocked in to save him. Even Paz Vizla! The one Mandalorian who always seemed to disapprove of him was there, guns blazing and fending off multiple bounty hunters at once, “ **Get out of here! We’ll hold them off!** ”

While Mando was glad that they had come to his aid, he was also worried for what this might mean for the future of the covert, “ **You’re going to have to relocate the covert!** ”

Paz responded with a, “ **This is The Way.** ” Stating that they had made up their minds and he should get a move on.

“ **This is The Way**.” Mando nodded back, silently thanking Paz and all the other Mandalorians who were helping him, knowing the risk they where taking.

Jogging back to the ship, Mando was ready to take off—

“Hold it Mando! I didn’t want it to come to this!”

There was Greef, holding the child in one arm while the other had the exhausted looking boy in a chokehold, pointing his blaster at the teen. Mando felt his entire body tense up, _how dare he?!_

“S—sorry Mando…” The kid gasped out.

It was plain to see just how wiped out the poor kid was. Sweat perspiring on his forehead and large bags underneath his eyes. Come to think of it, this was probably the result of pushing himself too far when it came to using his abilities. Forcefully willing his body to relax, Mando eyed Greef in distaste. Only a _coward_ would hide behind children in the face of his inevitable defeat.

Without a moment to lose, he whipped out his blaster and shot the air pipe, obscuring Greef’s view of him giving Mando the chance to shoot that son of a bitch. With him out of the way, Mando rushed to both children’s sides, the boy having caught the child when Greef went flying. Lifting the boy up and dusting him off, he asked him worriedly, “ **Are you okay kid? Nothing broken?** ”

The brat slapped his hovering hands away, gasping, “Yeah. I’m good. Just a bit tired.”

Not feeling satisfied with the response but knowing they had to leave, Mando lead the way to the control room and strapped them in before starting the ship up and taking off.

As they rose higher, Mando turned to see Paz flying next to them on his personalized jetpack. Paz looked at him and saluted, giving a silent goodbye. Mando tilted his head in acknowledgement, hoping that the next time they meet they won’t be at each other’s throat…literally.

He turned his head slightly when he heard the boy gasp. The kid was pressed up against the glass, fogging it up with his breath, “Wow! That guy might be cooler than you are! He had a jetpack!”

Mando choked on his spit.

What.

No.

Anyone but Paz.

Mando couldn’t believe he lost the little shit’s admiration to someone like _Paz Vizla_. Hell no. He gripped the craft’s controls in a white-knuckled grip, grinding his teeth, seething at the injustice of the galaxy.

“ **I gotta get me one of those.** ” He muttered darkly to himself. He was not going to lose to Vizla, not on his watch. Next time he sees that particular Mandalorian, there was going to be hell to pay.

Mando reached for the thruster, wanting to get out of this planet’s atmosphere faster and lose Paz. It wasn’t until his hand closed around the empty air where the little ball was supposed to be that he realized he never got it back. Glancing at the children he asked, “Hey kid, do you know where the handle for this thing is?”

The brat slyly looked back at him, “Why? Do you need it?”

“Yes, I need it.” Mando growled in annoyance. Really, this kid was too much.

The shitty brat took it out of his pocket (when the fuck did he—?!) and held his hand out, “Here you go!” he chirped annoyingly, clearly quite smug about something.

“…Thanks.” 

What was he so—oh. Oh! So that’s what this was. The brat managed to manipulate him! Him! Mando huffed, ignoring the wiggle of pride curling in his gut. _Definitely has Mandalorian potential_ , shaking his head in fondness, Mando asked the question that had been niggling at the back of his mind for the longest time.

“ **So, are you and the kid related?** ”

“What.” The boy deadpanned, clearly unimpressed with Mando’s deduction skills.

Wow, this kid sure knew how to kill someone’s self-esteem, “ **…Nevermind.** ”

“No, nonono. Go ahead, I want to hear what kind of rubbish comes out of your mouth today.”

Mando felt like he had been pierced. Was—was that blood on his chest? He wasn’t sure, “ **I hate you.** ”

“Love you too!” The brat smirked teasingly at him, cheek resting on his palm.

Mando knew the kid was mocking him, but he couldn’t help the slight jolt that went through him at the sound of the “L” word. When was the last time someone said _love_ to him? He didn’t know. His sudden silence must have thrown the teen off balanced because he opted a worried look and blurt out, “Sorry! I thought—I mean...I guess—!”

“ **Your good kid. I get it**.”

The boy flushed, embarrassed by the fact that he just threw out that word like it was nothing. And maybe to him it was nothing. But to Mando, it wasn’t something that is easily said or shown. Needing to change the subject, Mando quickly retraced their steps in the conversation, “ **I thought you guys might have been related since you both could do that freaky voodoo stuff.** ”

The kid sighed in relief, and tilted his head in confusion at Mando’s reasoning, “Freaky Voodoo Stuff? Oh! You mean my magic?”

“ **Huh?** ” Mando was caught off guard, magic? What the hell? The boy continued, seemingly unaware of the huge ‘What the fuck’ sign over Mando’s head, “Where I’m from there’s a whole society of us…I probably shouldn’t be telling you this but eh.” He shrugged his boney shoulders, “What can they do to me now?”

“ **Secret Society? And the child is part of this?** ”

He looked up in confusion, “Huh?”

“The child could also lift and push things with its mind.” Mando said as a way of explanation.

“What?! Really?!” The boy whipped around to gaze at the big-eyed child in shock, who giggled at the attention it was getting.

Evidently, the brat had no idea that the child was also doing voodoo, interesting. This meant that the baby and the kid only recently met each other, otherwise he would have known about the child’s ability.

“ **Things just got a whole lot more complicated.** ” Mando murmured under his breath. Even so, Mando glanced back at his kids—the teen fussing with the younger like a mother hen—he wouldn’t change his decision to go back for the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG! I’m so sorry this is a day late! I’ve just been really stressed out with my finals coming up and having a full-time job despite all the shit that’s been happening! *sobs in despair* I tried my best for this chapter but I ended up hating it even more than the last one, I hope you guys can forgive me for another rushed job! For those who have given me kudos, bookmarked, or commented on this story, THANK YOU! You guys keep me going!^^ That said, I probably won’t update next week cuz of finals. Thanks again for being so patient with me and loving this train wreck!  
> 


	6. Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This short break is brought to you by oh-woe-is-me-fuck-my-life Severus Snape and the crew of miscreants, the former DA members.

Albus Dumbledore paced at the head of the table relentlessly, muttering under his breath. The headquarters of the Order was currently in a dreary looking house called, number twelve, Grimmauld Place, the dark walls showcasing just _who_ this family house used to belong to. In the kitchen, all the available Order members where crammed into the long stretched out table, each of them murmuring worriedly to one another and all asking the same basic question: _Where’s Harry Potter?_

Severus Snape sat in one of the many hard wooden chairs in the corner on the room, back to the wall and eyes on every entrance and possible exits. He was bored out of his mind, they had started the emergency meeting to discuss what had become of the Potter boy—which, frankly, was a waste of time. What they _should_ be discussing was their next step now that the Dark Lord had exposed himself to the Wizarding world and how to proceed without Potter around. **Not** making conspiracy theories about Potter’s location.

_Potter lives to make my life difficult,_ Severus scowled to himself. Indeed, without Potter around the Dark Lord will be in a foul mood until the boy or his decomposing body in found, and the Dark Lord in a bad mood is not something Severus wished to see. He winced inwardly at the phantom pain of multiple _Crucios_ that will surely be cased upon him once he returned to his Death Eater services.

Not that any of the Order cared about his wellbeing. In fact, Severus is a hundred percent sure they all wouldn’t mind causing him a bit of pain.

Hating to be in a room of arguing adults any longer (his childhood had plenty of that, _thankyouverymuch_ ), the Potions Master stood up, “If we are done here, I will take my leave.” He drawled out, unimpressed with their childish grumbling.

His shoulder was grabbed roughly from behind, Severus instinctively twisted out of the hold and drew up his wand, ready to fire off any spells. (He ignored the zap of fear that coursed through him at the memory of his bruising grip. He’s gone. Gone. _Gonegonegone **gone**_.)

“What do you think you’re doing, _Mutt_?” He snarled, clearly not appreciating anyone invading his personal space. Especially not from Sirius Black.

The haggard looking man snarled just as fiercely back, “Where do you think _you’re_ going, _Snivellus_?!”

Logically, Severus supposed he could understand the dog’s grief, he had just lost his last piece of James Potter. But he observed this with an odd sense of detachment, any other person would have tried to comfort the mangy mutt. Hell, most of the Order had—Gryffindors, the lot of them—but Severus Snape was not that kind of man. He was the kind to hold it all in until it slowly killed him inside. He was a _Slytherin_. And damn if he was going to let _anybody_ see his weaknesses (Lily was the last one to see his soft side and look how **that** turned out).

Snorting, Severus put his wand away and turned his back on Black, stating how little danger the mutt posed to him while secretly ready to blast the mangy mutt away at any sign of aggression.

“I’m leaving. There’s nothing for me to do here.” He stated, calmly walking towards the entrance, eyes darting around to gauge any hostile moves from the other members. Despite how hard Dumbledore may try, these people did not trust him. They would gladly kill him if he so much as moved the wrong way, and Severus would do well to extend the courtesy. He was surrounded by enemies on all sides. The only one he could trust was himself. That’s it. Even Dumbledore would, without hesitation, through him to the wolves if he thought it was for the “Greater Good”.

“Severus, my boy,” Dumbledore gave him a sad look, eyes somehow managing to also twinkle sadly at him, “Surely you would be willing to help find Harry? He is after all, part of the prophecy.”

The Potions Master narrowed his eyes and clenched his teeth in disgust, “I have other duties to fulfill, so I’m afraid you’re just going to have to make do. Good day.” Nodding sharply, he turned to leave once more.

“He’s Lily’s child, Severus.”

Oh. That bastard! The old coot always seemed to pull the “Lily’s Child” card whenever he wanted Severus to do something for him. It always worked. The guilt he had in dooming his only childhood friend was enormous (he could care less about James Potter), and Dumbledore knew exactly how to use that guilt to his advantage. Who said that Albus Dumbledore was a Gryffindor? Severus would like to have some words with whomever came up with such ridiculous bullshit.

As always, guilt won out in the end, “Very well. What would you have me do?”

The old bastard had the gall to _beam_ at him. Asshole. He hoped the old coot would die so that he could dance in celebration on his grave.

…

On second thought, Severus wasn’t much for dancing.

XXXX

On the other side of the house, Harry’s best mates Ron and Hermione sat huddled together with the Weasley twins, Ginny, Neville Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood who had all come here to talk about their own plan. They called it ‘Operation: Golden Gryffin’!

Hermione frowned and crossed her arms, “We are _not_ calling it that.”

Both twins glanced at each other before turning back to Hermione and asking, “ **Why? It’s cool!** ”

Ginny sighed in frustration, “Fred, George, now’s not the time!”

Luna interrupted their bickering with the comment, “There are many nargles in this house, I can give you the number for the Nargel Extermination Crew if you want?”

Neville cleared his throat and shyly lifted his hand in the air, “Uh, guys? How are we going to find Harry?”

The all looked at each other, at a loss. Hemione hesitated before saying, “Well, when I was younger, I used to read a bunch of mystery books and, I think, we should go back to ‘the scene of the crime’.”

Ron, who was sitting on top the bed, shook his head, “That’s mental! Sorry ‘Mione but, going back to the Ministry will be harder now that they know You-Know-Who’s back. Besides, how are we going to sneak out with the Order watching our every move!”

The frizzy haired witch threw her hands up in the air in exasperation, “Well what else can we do Ronald? Harry could be in pain! He needs us!”

“He’s not a baby Hermione! He can take care of himself!” Ron snapped back.

Hermione fretted, “Yes but—”

“I think he’ll be okay.”

Luna once again interrupted the remaining Golden Trio’s argument. She gazed absentmindedly at the wall, seeing things that no o ne else could, “Harry will be alright. I know it.”

Hermione scoffed, not believing in the ridiculous creatures and feelings Luna tended to sprout. Ginny on the other hand, had faith in her blonde friend, “Luna’s right. What’s done is done. We need to work together and find a way to bring Harry back.”

They all stood in somber silence for a while, each contemplating a way to find their friend.

“I suppose,” Fred pipped up followed by his twin, “we could—”

“—make a sort of—”

“—map that could—”

“—locate Harry—”

“—a bit like the—”

“—Marauders Map, really!”

Neville scratched his head, slightly confused, “The what?”

The twins grinned, ready to do the same little speech they gave Harry the first time they introduced him to the Map. Ron cut them off though, not in the mood for the twin’s antics, “It’s a map of Hogwarts that shows you where everyone is at all times. But how will that help us?”

Neville squeaked and paled at the thought of anyone knowing his location at all times, shivering to think what one of the Death Eaters would do with that knowledge.

Hermione snapped her fingers and made a ‘aha!’ sound, “I get it! Instead of the map being tied to a place like Hogwarts, we’ll use Harry as the point of reference! That way the map will lead us straight towards Harry! Brilliant! It’s a bit like a ‘ _point-me_ ’ charm only much more powerful and specific!”

George nodded his head, smiling, “Exactly.”

Luna’s eyes sharpened with the idea, “We’ll need Harry’s blood.”

Ron blenched, eyes widening in horror, “Blood?!”

Hermione hummed thoughtfully, “Yes. A personal idem will be too weak to use, DNA such as blood or hair will be much more efficient. Problem is, where would we find some of Harry’s blood?”

They all raked their brains, trying to think of something or someplace where they could potentially extract some of Harry’s DNA.

“I got it!” Ginny exclaimed excitedly, looking around to make sure she had their attention she proudly said, “Umbridge!”

“ **Huh?** ” They all looked at Ginny in confusion, all except Hermione Granger of course.

“I see…”

Annoyed at being left out, Ron huffed, “Is anyone going to enlighten me or am I supposed to read minds?”

Surprisingly, it was Neville who answered first, “I think what their trying to say is that Umbridge drew a lot of blood from Harry when she made him write with the blood quill, right?” He looked at the girls for confirmation.

Ginny nodded rapidly, “Yes. We could look for old wraps or clothing that might have blood spilled on it or we could look in Umbridge’s office…?” She trembled at the thought, “Though I prefer that we don’t go anywhere near that Toad.”

All seven murmured in agreement, Umbridge was the one person who they hated more than Voldemort. There was just something about that awful little toad that made their skin crawl in hate and disgust, more than Voldemort ever could. Even the twins, laid back as they were, loathed the new Defense Teacher.

“Right.” Hermione bobbed her head in determination, “George, Fred, both of you will figure out the spell work for the map.”

The twins saluted, “Rodger that!”

“Ron, Neville, you guys look in Harry’s trunk and anywhere he might have bled, I’m talking about bed, bag, trunk and clothes.”

“I don’t feel comfortable invading Harry’s privacy like that.” Neville worried.

“We’re doing this for Harry, Neville.” Hermione patiently pointed out, continuing with her battle plan, “Luna, Ginny, I’m counting on you to keep an eye out and distract any adults that might try to stop us.”

“So basically, everyone around us.” Ginny dryly added.

Luna stared dreamingly on, “What will you do Hermione?” 

Said witch put her hands on her hips and grinned, “I’m going to do research and make sure the twins don’t get us killed with their wand work.”

“Ouch!” Fred put a hand over his heart, “You wound me!”

Hermione rolled her eyes, “Hopefully, this plan works, and we get Harry back before things get out of hand.”

“But Hermione—”

“—there’s nothing _in_ our hands!”

The twins cackled at their poor joke, high-fiving and ignoring the exasperated silence from everyone else. Suddenly, that silence was broken from an unexpected figure stepping out from the shadows, “Perhaps I could be of some assistance.”

  
XXXX

If Severus ever had faith in humanity—no—in wizards in general, then this meeting would have made him lose it. The Order of the Flaming Chicken were arguing…again. Honestly, how Albus could stand to be in such close proximity to such _idiotic_ people, he would never understand. Merlin, he could _smell_ the stupid.

After the Headmaster had successfully convinced him to stay, Severus found that _there wasn’t a single brain cell in the entirety of the Order_. No one, absolutely no one, had any idea on how to proceed in finding Potter. One suggestion included a pipe, Polyjuice Potion, and a sword, three guesses as to who made _that_ foolish plan (Black, you **imbecile** ).

At one point, Severus decided to forgo making any suggestions (not that they would have listened) and sit back to enjoy the show.

After a while, he got tired of listening to their useless babbling and went to find the Black Library. Surely the immense Black collection had _something_ that would drag the Potter boy back from wherever he may be.

However, as he was walking briskly down the hall way, he heard mutters not belonging to anyone in the Order.

“—Marauders Map, really!”

What? A map?

Making sure to keep in the shadows, Severus listened in. He was reluctantly impressed by the children’s plan, though it was admittedly incomplete in certain aspects, it was better than anything he heard from the adults just a few rooms down.

He thought over his options, on one hand he could turn the little miscreants in and then have the Order complete their little plan of action while stepping back himself as he had done his job and _helped_ the Order as Albus requested. Or, or…he could help the brats. The more he thought about it, the more Severus preferred his second option. While he could have the Oder execute the plan, with the way they were acting back there, he doubted the plan would go as smoothly. Besides, there was something thrilling about helping Potter’s friends into danger without the old coots knowing. Not that he would let anything happen to them. Merlin knows what the Headmaster will say if he killed off his precious students.

Happy with his idea, he stepped forward and spoke, “Perhaps I could be of some assistance.”

Severus held back a smirk at the sight of them jumping in fright at the sudden appearance of their “Greasy Dungeon Bat”. Yes. This will be fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I am back! Like I probably mentioned before, I don’t know what I’m doing. This story idea came from a piece of dialogue I made up when I was daydreaming. Snape’s appearance in this story was as much as a surprise to me as it was for ya’ll. Next chapter we’ll definitely get back to the main story line. As always, please comment and tell me what you think!
> 
> Preview: “I like her!” “Right back at you little man!” “By the stars. There’s two of them now.” “Gahh!”


	7. Sorgan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mando and his kids collect a crazy aunt to fight the bad guys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: reading your comments *gets excited*  
> Me: gets stuck after first word  
> Me: .....  
> Me: 'aight, I'm out

“Forty-two bottles of beer on the wall, forty-two bottles of beer~ Take one down and pass it around, forty-one bottles of beer on the wall~”

Harry was sure that if it weren’t for the child, clapping and babbling along to the song, the Mandalorian would have strangled him a long time ago. Hell, even _he_ was annoyed at the repetitiveness, but… _he was bored!_ Harry had already spent a good portion of time nagging the Mandalorian about his people (“ _Why do you wear a helmet? Do you ever take it off? Are you born a Mandalorian or is it something you join? How many of you are there? Are you actually a guy or girl? Are you human? Do you have a wife? Kids?”_ ). The Mandalorian didn’t seem to mind the questions at first, but as time went on, he began answering less and less until he was just humming and grunting a negative or positive, so Harry left him alone after that.

Sitting still for hours on end was never his strong point. Harry was used to always moving around, from doing chores at the Dursleys to constantly having to save the Wizarding World from certain doom (a bit dramatic but true nonetheless). So yes, having too much time on his hands was a first and made him feel restless—useless.

“Thirty-eight bottles of beer on the wall, thirty-eight bottles of beer~ Take one down and pass it around, thirty-seven bottles of beer on the wall~”

Was that a twitch? Yup, the Mandalorian was definitely regretting saving his arse, not that he needed saving. It usually was the other way around. He had everything in control, thank you very much.

“Bahh! Bah! Gooah!” The child joyously exclaimed in his baby talk.

Harry grinned, when he was younger, he’d always hoped for a younger brother or sister that he could dote on, and for a while, he hoped Dudley would be that for him. That clearly didn’t happen so Harry moved on to hoping that he would have kids of his own when he was older. Fate was certainly on his side on this, because he managed to find an adorable baby alien.

Lifting him up and tossing him up and down, Harry smiled, “Aren’t you the cutest little thing? Yes, you are! Yes, you are! ~”

The child laughed and giggled in delight either at his words or being tossed.

Up frost, the Mandalorian snorted and Harry whipped around to glare at him, “What?” he said defensively.

The rust-bucket lightly shook his head, “ **You and I have very different definitions of ‘cute’**.”

The wizard rolled his eyes and mumbled petulantly, “ _You’re_ not very cute.”

“ **I heard that.** ”

Harry stuck his tongue out mockingly before turning back to the child and cooing, “Don’t listen to him. _I_ bet you’re the cutest thing in the entire galaxy!”

The child giggled and Harry couldn’t help the wide grin spreading over his face. There was just something about the little green baby that lifted his spirits no matter what. Speaking of the child…

“I’m going to name you!” Harry lifted the child up in the air both laughing.

Unfortunately, Mr. Stick-in-the-mud had to ruin their moment, “ **You can’t name a child that isn’t yours.** ”

Harry pouted, “Why not? I can’t keep calling him _“Child”_ , that’s not a name.”

Harry would know. He spent most of his infant years thinking “Boy” was his name. It wasn’t until he entered pre-school that he realized that it wasn’t his legitimate name. It had been embarrassing to have your name called out but not respond to it at school simply because he hadn’t _known_ it. Petunia had thrown a fit when she found out she had to have a conference with the principle on his first day of school, he’d gotten two days of the Cupboard for that. The next time he went to school, Aunt Petunia made sure he knew his full name (Harry James Potter) and when he asked if his nickname was “Freak”, she had turned pale and snapped, “Don’t be foolish boy!” and that was that.

So of _course_ , he didn’t want to call the poor little baby, “Child”, it might start thinking it was actually his name like Harry did!

Ignoring the Mandalorian’s reasoning (What did he know anyway? His name was Mando of all things!), Harry continued to try and name the child, “I’m going to call you…Adam!”

“ **No.** ”

“Hmm, Frank?”

“ **No.** ”

“Bernard!”

“ **Absolutely not.** ”

Harry wrinkled his brow in thought, what would be a good name for an alien? They probably all had unique names. So, something unique…but what? He scrutinized the child, as if it’s appearance would give him a hint to a good name.

The Mandalorian sighed, “ **It’s not our place to name the Child,** ”

As Harry opened his mouth to argue, the Mandalorian continued, “ **But! I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to give him a nickname of sorts.** ”

The Gryffindor beamed, “I have the perfect nickname!” He wiggled in his chair in excitement, “His nickname will be…. Bob!” He lifted the child towards the Mandalorian with a flourish as if to say, ‘ta-da!’.

The Mandalorian deadpanned, “ ** _No._** ” before turning back around to face the controls.

Harry snickered, enjoying his new hobby of annoying the one adult in the vicinity. Shrugging helplessly at the child in a what-can-you-do gesture Harry told it, “Well I tried.”

Hours later and Harry found himself practicing simple levitation and shielding of small objects he found around the ship. He’d first slowly try to levitate it about an inch off the floor before moving on to something bigger then, once he was bored of that, he’d try to make a bubble-like shield around the objects and testing them with a poke. Most of the time, the shields would pop like the bubbled they where designed after, but sometimes they held up and Harry would celebrate until they too popped due to his lack of concentration.

Harry’s self-training was put to a stop when he heard something powering down and then powering back up again. Looking up, he had to fight a smile as Harry realized that the child— _Bob—_ was up to no good again.

“ **Stop touching things**.”

The little green bean gazed up at the Mandalorian in confusion and then gazed back at Harry in a look that said, ‘Can you believe this guy?’, Harry snickered and nodded his head, signaling for the child to continue. He wanted to see what the Mandalorian would do when a baby disobeyed him.

The next thing that happened had Harry slapping his hands over his mouth to muffle the laughter bubbling through. The child looked the Mandalorian straight in the eye, and pushed another button.

Harry fell over in laughter as the spacecraft rattled. The Mandalorian turned off whatever the baby had turned on and picked the child up and set him down on his lap before turning to Harry with an obvious frown in his voice, “ **Stop teaching him to misbehave.** ”

Harry squawked in denial, “I did no such thing! He already was like that when we met! You should have seen the amount of times we ended running away from the authorities!”

“ **Hm** ”, the Mandalorian was clearly unimpressed with his story. He gazed down at something before him, “ **Let’s see, Sorgan. Looks like there’s no star port, no industrial centers, no population density. Real backwater skug hole.** ”

Harry came up behind him to glance down at the map, “That’s a great place to hide then, right?”

“Exactly. Ready to lay low and stretch our legs, little womp rat One and Two?” 

“Oi! I’m not a womp rat! .... What’s a womp rat?”

“It’s what you are.” Mando bluntly told him while guiding the ship towards the big green and blue planet. 

Harry was completely in awe when the giant planet came into sight that he couldn’t help but breath out, “It reminds me of home.” He felt a bang of longing, once again missing his friends and all the good things he left behind. Hedwig! Merlin, he missed her!

Soon enough, they were landing in a clearing in the forest of trees similar to the evergreens back on Earth.

“ **Alright. I’m gonna go take a look around, both of you stay right here**.”

“What?! I want to go too!”

The Mandalorian plopped the child into Harry’s arm and looked down at them, ignoring Harry’s exclamation completely, “ **It shouldn’t take long. Don’t touch anything! I’ll be back once I find lodging and some food. Stay here. Don’t move.** ”

He left and Harry couldn’t help but immaturely mimic him, “Stay! Sit! Good boy, Harry!” He scoffed, “Honestly, I’m not a dog! I wish some people would stop treating me like one!” He looked down at the child, “Right?” only to see it was no longer there.

Harry panicked and ran towards the lowering hanger to see the child standing quietly at the oblivious Mandalorian’s side. Sighing in relief, he scooped the troublemaker up and waited for the mercenary to notice them. _You know, for a bounty hunter, he needs to be more aware of his surroundings_ , Harry snarked to himself and gazed up innocently at the hunter once the Mandalorian did a double take to make sure that yes. They did not listen to anything he’s just said.

Clearly done for the day, the Mandalorian sighed in exhaustion and said, “ **Fine. Whatever. Come on!** ”

They all marched dutifully towards their next destination, Harry practically vibrating with excitement at the prospect of exploring a new planet. His adventuring having come to a halt once he was captured on Taris. Harry grinned merrily at the waddling child beside him, making sure to keep his strides slow and short for the little thing despite his excitement.

Entering a small tent of sorts which, from the inside, looked like a local restaurant, Harry gawked at all the unfamiliar people and surroundings, licking his lips in hunger when he spotted a lady scooping up noodles for a customer. With so many people around, Harry quickly looked down to make sure they hadn’t lost the child in the crowd. When he saw a weird creature that resembled a cat, he once saw in a cartoon in passing snarl at the child. Harry snatched it off the ground and held the baby close as he glared at the stupid cat-thing, walking backwards as to keep an eye on the shifty creature, missing the calculating glance one of the customers gave them in passing.

Setting the child down on a highchair before sitting down himself next to it, Harry didn’t have to wait long for the waiter to some along. _Worlds away yet some things never change_ , he mused to himself.

“Welcome travelers! Can I interest you in anything?” The woman slimed down sweetly at them, clearly already taken with the child and Harry.

“Bone Broth, for the little one.”

Harry cut in, not wanting the hunter to order for him, “May I have whatever dish that has noodles in them?” he smiled winningly at the woman, not wanting her to think badly of him. ‘Always make a good impression’, as the Dursleys always used to say. Somethings will always stay with Harry (like scars).

He ignored the Mandalorian’s exaggerated cough to cover up his sort of disbelief at Harry’s angelic attitude. The woman cooed at him and pinched his cheek, “Of course Honey! One bowl of udon* coming right up!” She turned to the Mandalorian worriedly, “And for you sir? Bone broth will do that coughing some good.”

Having recovered from his earlier bout of coughing, he shook his head, “ **No, thanks. That’s all.** ”

The woman gazed doubtfully for a few seconds more before shrugging and turning away, but was stopped by the Mandalorian’s next question, “ **That one over there,** ” He pointed with a nod, “ **When did she arrive?** ”

“I’ve seen her around here for the last week or so.” The lady responded, slightly confused as to why the hunter was asking. Seeming too naïve to understand his intent.

“ **What’s her business here?** ”

“Business?”

Harry’s focus slowly slid away from the occurring conversation and his gaze focused towards the woman the Mandalorian was so insistent in getting information about. The woman in question was buff looking and could clearly take out a whole squad of Death Eaters with her bare hands.

…

He liked her already.

Harry waved shyly at the woman, making sure to look as non threatening as possible. The buff woman didn’t wave back but he did notice the corner of her lips twitch upwards in what might have been the beginnings of a smile. He counted that as a win.

Since he was paying such close attention to her, Harry was the only one to notice her get up and walk out, tilting her head at him in acknowledgement.

“I’ll add extra noodles for the kiddos just for that.”

The chirpy voice of their waiter brought Harry back to the conversation at hand. He looked back and forth between the Mandalorian’s exasperated silence and the waiter who had left with a slight hop in her step and pockets just a bit heavier. It wasn’t until then that the mercenary noticed the absence of one certain _possibly-another-hunter_ woman.

The Mandalorian stood up hurriedly, “ **Stay. Watch the Child.** ” Was all he said before rushing out of the establishment.

Harry shook his head, “I should start charging him for babysitting. Not that you’re any trouble!” He hurriedly tried to reassure the little one, only to realize too late, it was gone.

“Huh?!” Harry frantically looked around and under the table to check for any sign of the child. No luck.

“How in Merlin’s name does something so small disappear so fast?!” Harry cried out in frustration, scrambling up and walking out of the building.

Once he stepped out the door, he looked right and left to try and determine which way the little munchkin went. Shrugging, he decided to go right. Harry scanned the dirt road as he jogged muttering all the while, “He’s gonna kill me. I just know it.” He mmimicked the Mandalorian’s voice, already imagining the ensuing argument, “ _“YoU lOsT tHE ChILD?”_ Oh well you see…!”

Harry skidded to a halt when he stumbled upon the scene before him. The Child was standing there nonchalantly drinking tea ( _where the hell did he get tea from??!_ ), while the Mandalorian and the _maybe_ hunter woman laid on the ground in a weird stand off.

“Uh…I like your muscles?” The wizard blurted out the first thing that came to mind, and then wished he hadn’t.

Harry buried his face into his hands in mortification, blushing to the tips of his ears. I. Am. A. _Moron._ It didn’t hell his self esteem when all the of them, including the child, laughed at his expense.

“ **So, do you want some soup?** ” the Mandalorian asked after they all stopped chuckling.

And that’s how they ended up all sitting together eating their respective dishes. Harry slumped over his bowl still embarrassed by his earlier brain fart.

“I thought you were hunting me which is why I came at you so hard. I also thought you’d kidnapped these poor children so that helped.”

The Mandalorian snorted, “ **Even if I had. I wouldn’t waste any time returning them. They’re more trouble than their worth.** ”

That caused Harry to look up from his self imposed silence to shout in indignation, “Hey!”

Both ignored him.

“How’d you end up here?”

“Lets just call it an early retirement.”

She took another sip of her drink (Harry thought it might be alcoholic going by the smell), “Well, this has been a lot of fun,” Cara—that was her name—winked at Harry, “but unless you want to go another round, one of us is gonna have to leave, and I was here first,” With that final statement, she gulped down her drink, slammed in down on the table, and strode away.

There was a moment of blissful silence. Then—

“ **Muscles, huh?** ”

“Shut up!!”

XXXXXX

Mando chuckled as the kid punched his heavily padded bicep, finally having the upper hand when it came to teasing the brat. It had taken a while to get used to the back and forth banter, Mando being used to the silence of traveling by himself. And it’s not like the other Mandalorian’s where too keen in having a good time (the only laughter in the coven these days where those of the foundlings who where too young to remember the Great Purge). It was nice. Though he didn’t dare voice his pleasure to anyone, the brat would never shut up if he did.

Speaking of the kid…

“ **Hey kid, you got a name?** ”

The boy blinked at him and snarked, “Wow, did it just occur to you to ask?”

“ **Does that cheek of yours get you in a lot of trouble?** ” Mando was genuinely curious, because so far, he had to stop himself from shanking the kid approximately five times already. He could only imagine what the brats poor parents have to go through.

…

Wait.

Parents??!!

Shit!!!

With all the commotion, not only did Mando forget to ask the kids name, but he also forgot to ask if anybody was looking for him! Here he was, already emotionally attached with a slight probability that he would have to hand the kid over to his people (could he emotionally do that? Probably not.). Fuck. He was a mess.

“ **Kid. I’m being serious. What’s your name and is there someone I need to contact?** ”

The boy stared at him, trying to judge just how serious he was. He must have read something in his body language because the kid relaxed and shook his head, “No. I mean…I don’t have parents?”

“ **Is that a question or a fact?** ”

“Fact. I **don’t** have parents…but I’ve got a godfather and some friends who might be missing me. I don’t know how to find them or contact them, and I don’t really know how long I’ve been gone so…yeah," he shrugged helplessly.

Mando sighed, it wasn’t exactly what he feared (no parents? He didn’t know how to feel about that), but he still felt obligated to _try_ and get the kid back home, “ **Name?** ”

The kid straightened up and stuck out his hand, “Harry Potter, at your service!”

Underneath the helmet, Mando smiled and shook his hand, “ **Nice to meet you, Harry.** ”

The boy—Harry—gazed at him expectantly, waiting for something. With a jolt, Mando realized he was waiting for him to introduce _himself_.

Clearing his throat awkwardly he felt his temperature spike in nervousness. When was the last time he told _anybody_ his name? When was the last time anyone _spoke_ his name? Mando wasn’t certain if he was ready to take that step…with anyone.

Harry looked down and then back up again, “That’s alright,” he smiled gently, _knowingly_ , and said, “You can tell me when your ready.”

He felt his breath catch in his throat. If that wasn’t the most fucking thoughtful shit Mando has ever heard, he’s going to have to reevaluate who he “hangs out" with. Seriously, this kid was going to make him cry.

“ **Sorry,** ” he couldn’t help but feel guilty in his inability to connect (connect? Was that even the right word?), and give the kid his name. He just…wasn’t _ready_ yet.

Harry shrugged, “It’s alright. I get it.”

Mando cleared his throat again, trying to get rid of the mysterious lump in his throat, “ **Right. Well… I’ll try and find a way to contact your people.** ”

Harry **_beamed_** at him, “Thanks!”

“ **No problem.** ” Dang, remind him to ask the Armorer to dim the light refractors on his visor, because _damn_ was it suddenly bright in here.

The walk back to the Razor Crest was a quite one. Not at all awkward, just…oddly peaceful. As if they had finally come to an understanding.

Loading the supplies gave Mando plenty of time to maul the day over, examining each piece of information and carefully storing it away. What had he learned about Harry? One, he was an orphan. Two, he wasn’t completely alone. Three, he had magical powers that may or may not be related to the Child abilities. Four, he was mouthy and that was most likely a defense mechanism. Five…he had scars.

Harry was always either consciously or unconsciously hiding his hand and Mando had a suspicion that the scar on his hand wasn’t the only one of its kind. It made his teeth clench in rage and his fist tremble with the need to punch something or someone. What _monster_ would do that to a child? Actually, Mando had an idea. He _swears_ if he finds out it was the Empire he was going to bust in and kill all those motherfuckers until no droid or human remembered who the _fuck_ the Imperialists were. (Shit. He needed to calm down. He hadn’t even known the kid for more than a month and already he was pledging his life to the brat).

Quickly steering his thought process away from that particular topic in fear he might go on a killing spree. Mando crouched down to pick up the whining Child.

Don’t even get him started on the Child. He’d wasn’t lying when he told Harry that they had different definitions of **cute**. The Child had a face one would describe as “only a mother could love", and, unfortunately for Mando, he apparently was now a— _temporary_ —parent. At least until he found both of the kids respective families. (That’s going to be a difficult goodbye).

“Excuse me!”

Oh great. What? Did he have some of his old fliers laying around for people to find?! Not that he really meant to be rude (yes he did), but he wasn’t in the mood to go retrieving some lost princess or whatever the hell these guys wanted from him.

“Excuse me, sir!”

He didn’t bother turning around, “ **There’s something I can help you with?** ”

A rhetorical question for sure, he’d already had an idea of what they wanted. But Mando wasn’t looking for any heat. Not when he had two kids to look after.

“Uh yeah. Raiders!” One spoke and the other tacked on, “We have money!”

From the corner of his vision, Mando could see Harry perk up and turned his curious gaze at the unwanted guests.

“ **So you think I’m some kind of mercenary?** ”

Harry frowned and gave him a look of disapproval, obviously wanting Mando say _yes,_ and help these people. Mando shook his head slightly in his direction. _No_ , he told him silently, _we can’t afford to help them._ The boy pouted.

“You are a Mandalorian right?”

“Or at least wearing Mandalorian armor…that is Mandalorian armor, right?”

“ **It is.** ” Silently praying that they gave up and went away. He felt bad… _slightly_ , but he was doing what’s best for the kiddos, and right now that was not getting caught by the Guild.

“We have money!” One off the men cried out again, despite to change his mind.

Damn. If this goes much longer, he’s gonna break. Mando had a weakness for the helpless. Probably explained the kids.

“ **How much.** ” Play it cool.

“Everything we have. We’re krill farmers you see…!”

Nope, “ **It’s not enough,** ” he can’t take that. If it really was _everything they had_ , Mando would feel guilty in taking it…. Not that he was considering it. At all.

Again, Mando caught Harry’s eyes, big green eyes which where clearly judging him quite harshly at the moment. But he couldn’t. He shouldn’t. These kids where his priority now, not making money off impoverished people like the old Din would have (back when he was young and reckless and _bitter_ ).

“Great. Now we have to travel all the way back, to the middle of nowhere!” One guy complained quite loudly, trying to needle in the guilt.

Mando felt Harry’s glare turn sad, and he tried his best not to look.

 _Don’t look. Don’t look, don’t look, don’tlookdon’tlook,_ in the end, Mando couldn’t help but look.

Gazing back at him wasn’t just one pair of eyes but two. Green and brown combined to make the ultimate puppy-dog look (were those tears?!). Mando felt betrayed. They where supposed to understand! To be on his side! To behave—

Ok. Who was he kidding?

“ **Where did you say you lived?** ”

Instantly the dark gloom behind him brightened and both Harry and the child miraculously stopped tearing up. Little shits.

“On a farm, in the middle of nowhere,” one replied. The other scoffed, “Weren’t you listening?”

Mando ignored the man’s attitude, because really, no. He _wasn’t_ listening.

Having the extra pairs of hands to load and repair the craft was a lot easier and the Razor Crest was locked and fully loaded in no time.

On the way, he requested that they stop by to pick someone up, a certain ex-Rebel shock shooter. Finding Cara’s camping spot was easy, so was convincing her to help, he just had to throw money her way and mention a safe place to hide out. 

Mando may or may not have stuck a tracker on Cara. While he didn’t think she would try and betray their location to the Imperials, it was still a precaution Mando had to take. It wouldn’t do to let a potential enemy roam free without him knowing their location. Besides, he was pretty sure she knew what he’d done.

The knowing smirk thrown his way confirmed his suspicions.

Harry perked up when he saw Mando walking out of the woods with Cara in tow, “Hey! You’re coming with us?” he excitedly asked.

Cara grinned cockily and ruffled his hair, “Sure am little man!”

The rest of the ride both chattered with Harry asking most of the questions and Cara responding patiently with an amused smile at the boy’s curious nature.

As the night dragged on both children fell asleep, cuddling against Mando as if he was their personal heater. Across from him, Cara snickered at the cute display, “Who would have known that the grumpy Mandalorian I met earlier today would turn out to be such a softy?” she teased.

“Shut up,” Mando was not _soft_. He wasn’t. He’d killed many and would continue to kill many more. His hands were that of a killer, he was a _hunter_ for crying out loud! Having kids wouldn’t change that. In fact, taking care of _these kids_ would just require him to dirty his hands even more. What, with the countless of people chasing after them. Though, Mando couldn’t find it in himself to regret it.

He gazed fondly down at both children.

“Man, you have it _bad_.”

Mando’s head snapped up and he glared at Cara, “ **I do not have it _“bad”_** ” he weakly defended.

She snorted, “Yeah, right. You look at them as if they’re your world.”

He did not. Mando was offended, who was she to tell him how he felt?! It was preposterous! Outrageous! Unthinkable! It was….it was….it was _completely true_. Mando could deny it all he wants, but the truth of the matter is; _he was attached_. And no amount of posturing would change that.

“It’s nice.”

Mando’s thoughts were interrupted by Cara speaking up tenderly. He tilted his head in confusion, nice? 

Cara chuckled, “I’ve seen so much cruelty in the galaxy and its people like you who remind me what I was fighting for.”

“People like me?” he questioned, still not getting it (he was tired, okay?).

“People who _care_ ,” she sighed wistfully, leaning back and gazing up at the starts, “If only more people cared enough to take in and care for others,” 

Mando also looked up and gazed at the fast number of solar systems decorating the beautiful night sky, “Yeah,” he thought about his past, the places he’s been and people he’s seen. The he thought about getting that fob, meeting Harry and the Child, “Yeah,” he softly repeated, “It would be nice.”

Together, they rested in silence, both thinking about all the have-been’s and will-be’s, wondering if it all would have been the same if they’d taken a different path. Where would they be now, without the people who raised and influenced them?

Silently, the sun rose to signal the start of a new day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N:That ended sorta melancholy, not my intention, I assure you. Also… Fluff. Lots of fluff. Lol, at this point I don’t know who adopted who. Did the kids adopt Mando? Or did Mando adopt the kids? Who knows? Cara Dune finally made an appearance! She’s awesome. This chapter was split into two parts since there’s so much I want to explore! Episode four of the Mandalorian just gave me so many ideas and I’m struggling to write it all down! Please leave a comment! Until next time!  
> *Those noodles in that scene reminded me of Udon noodles so I just called them that, hope you don’t mind. 
> 
> Preview: “Let me fight! I can fight!” “No. This isn’t a game. People will die.” “I know that! You think I don’t know that?!!”


	8. Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mando and Harry have a talk.

When they arrived, it seemed like the entire village came to greet them. The cart was immediately surrounded by curious eyes and hopeful smiles, and, despite them not showing any signs of hostility, Harry found himself ducking behind the Mandalorian for safety (since when did he start thinking the mercenary was safe?). The hunter tensed up, apparently he too was uncomfortable with being surrounded by strangers. Yet, he did not force Harry to step out of his shadow, instead, the Mandalorian seemed to shift so that Harry was completely hidden behind him.

The child on the other hand, was loving the attention, gurgling and cooing in glee. The village children were captivated by the baby of unknown species, they giggled and laughed at the baby’s antics.

“See?! I told you guys we could get help!”

The people murmured and closed in, each trying to express their heartfelt gratitude.

“We’re saved! We’re saved!”

“Thank you, young man.”

“Wow, Mandalorian armor is so much cooler in person!”

On and on it went. Harry felt trapped, it was like entering the Wizarding World all over again. The praise, the adoring eyes and the calculating ones, the feeling of being looked up to by people who had no real reason to gaze at him in such awe—not when he had barley done anything at eleven. Granted, these people where more psyched out to see the Mandalorian, but still, Harry was uncomfortable. Maybe even more so than the Mandalorian who was currently reaching for his blaster…. uh-oh.

Seeing someone else struggling with the crowd of people just like Harry helped clear his mind. This was something the wizard was used to, saving people from unfortunate circumstances.

Jumping in front of the twitchy hunter, arms spread out as if to shield him from the onslaught of people, Harry bellowed out from the top of his lungs, “Quiet!!”

In the distance, birds scattered, and everything felt silent. Harry for sure had all their attention now. Huffing and crossing his arms he glared, “You should be ashamed of yourselves! Is this how you treat your potential savior? Like a pack of wolves out for a feast?!”

“What’s a wolf?” A guy from the back whispered only to be harshly shushed by his companions.

“If you want a handshake or autograph then GET IN LINE! I will not have you surrounding this trigger-happy man! Do you want to get killed?”

They all shook their heads fearfully, “No? Well then do as I say! Elderly and children first!”

Immediately, the village snapped to attention and shuffled into a (more or less) straight line. Happy with his damage control, Harry looked back and gave the Mandalorian a giddy thumbs up, not really believing that worked. The hunter chuckled and shook his head, relaxing his tense stance. Ruffling Harry’s hair, he went forward to receive each villager, listening carefully and gratefully accepting the many gifts the farmers gave him (though he tried to turn them down at first but after a stubborn elder scolded him for his rudeness the Mandalorian reluctantly accepted the offerings).

“Nicely handled,” Harry looked up to Cara’s impressed face and beamed, “Yeah well, after five years of being mobbed, you sorta get used to handling this sort of thing.”

“Mobbed?” She asked bewildered, but Harry had already been distracted by the child who was tugging at his pants to lead him to its new group of friends, missing the enlightening look Cara gave as she figured something out. 

After the initial hiccup of their first meeting with the small settlement, Harry and the child hit it off with the local children. Harry found himself making friends with two other kids his age who asked him all about what it was like traveling with the famous Mandalorian. Harry in turn, asked about their culture and was captivated by what they told him (krill farming sounded harder than he thought).

The Mandalorian, having exhausted his social meter in greeting the entire village, stuck close to Cara in the back, his gaze occasionally sweeping the area and settling on the group of children.

“Whoa! You guys escaped a hundred bounty hunters?!”

Harry was currently regaling the story of how the Mandalorian had helped them escape a planet full of hunters who where out to get them. He was exaggerating a few facts, but Harry enjoyed the gasps and awes that his audience gave as acted out the scenes. It was nice, Harry decided, the sun was high in the sky and the people where nice—if a little too excitable.

From the corner of his eye, Harry noticed the Mandalorian moving things from the cart to a hut, he guessed that’s where they were going to be staying. Excusing himself from the group, Harry stood up and made his way over to offer his help.

“Can I help?”

The Mandalorian grunted in acceptance, and Harry quickly made himself useful, picking up bags of clothes and the like, taking them into the hut. Once inside, Harry took a moment to admire the interior.

Everything was made from wood, it reminded Harry of those old pictures of settlements he once saw in a book. A crib was off to the side and there was a bunk bed across from that, this made Harry wonder if the village knew ahead of time what kinds of modifications they needed or if they just moved a similar family (with a baby and a child) out. If so, Harry should find that family and thank them for offering their home to house them, it was only the polite thing to do after all.

A sudden creak of the floorboards caused both Harry and the Mandalorian to twist around in battle ready stances. Mando with his blaster, and Harry with his arm outstretched ready to fire off magic at any signs of hostility.

The woman who startled them lifted her arms up in the universal sign for ‘I come in peace’, “I apologize for startling you.”

Both hunter and boy glanced at each other and sheepishly lowered their weapons, they might have been in friendly territory, but Harry and the Mandalorian both knew that safe was a relative term and could be easily disrupted. Still, Harry felt bad for raising a hand to harm the nice lady who, upon closer inspection, just wanted to bring them food.

“Sorry,” Harry felt the need to apologize for his lack of manners (“You’d do well to learn your manners _Boy_ ,”).

The pretty lady smiled at him, the slight wrinkles at the corner of her eyes crinkling in genuine amusement, “It’s alright, I should have announced my presence before.”

Harry ducked him head, not used to having an adult admit that it was _their_ fault and not his. Yeah, he definitely could get used to living here. 

The woman placed the tray on a small table off to the side, “My name is Omera and I welcome you to our humble village,”

There was a moment of silence in which Harry realized he probably should introduce himself and the Mandalorian seeing as he wasn’t going to speak up anytime soon, “Um, I’m Harry and he’s… Mando,” Harry ended lamely, not really knowing what else to call the elusive Mandalorian.

“Mando?” She murmured in confusion looking at the stoic mercinary, “Is that really your name?”

“ **Yes.** ” Was all he said, and Harry had to resist the urge to facepalm in front of Omera, embarrassed at the Mandalorian’s lack of social skills. He was even worse than Harry!

No longer wanting to be around the awkwardness, Harry politely excused himself, “I uh, just remembered that I promised Bob that I would um…show him something! Yes! So I’ll just…” he booked it, running out and searching for the child’s familiar face.

Behind him, Harry caught the tail end of Omera asking in confusion, “Who’s Bob?” but he didn’t stick around to hear the Mandalorians answer—if he answered at all.

XXXXX

The brat just left him! Alone! With a curious woman! That usually never ends up well. Though, to be fair, Mando’s experience with women was strictly limited to one night stands so…yeah. This was an uncomfortable situation. Most likely, she’s going to ask to see what’s underneath his helmet, like all the others.

“So,” She fidgeted slightly, nervous.

Annnddd here it comes.

“When was the last time you took your helmet off?”

Mando blinked beneath his helmet, surprised. That…that wasn’t what he was expecting. Usually people demanded to see his face (especially during sex), but this woman simply wondered if he ever took it off. Granted, it was still about his helmet but still, the variety was nice…sort of.

“ **Yesterday.** ” He replied and immediately winced at how bluntly he said it.

But Omera didn’t seem to mind judging by the growing smile on her lips, she even rolled her eyes at him! The only one brave enough to do such a thing to him was Harry, which made him think that he needed to fix his frightening reputation before he had everyone in the entire galaxy disrespecting him.

“I meant in front of others.”

Sighing, he walked closer and looked out the window to see the children laughing and playing with his children in the mists of it. Nodding his head towards them he remarked, “ **Not since I was about their age.** ”

Just then, Mando witnessed Harry getting roughly shoved down. Worried that the children were paying too roughly he whipped around to head out only to be halted by the sight of Omera putting her arm out to stop him, “It’s okay,”

He frowned, “ **I don’t think—** ”

“They’re okay,” She interrupted him again, urging him to look back out the window.

He turned and, sure enough, they were all piled-on top of each other on the floor, giggling and having a good time. Mando relaxed and Omera chuckled, “I too was overprotective of my daughter, Winta… until I realized that I was suffocating her growth,”

“ **Daughter?** ”

She nodded and pointed towards the little girl with a head full of curls and a big grin on her face. Then Mando processed what she said, “ **I’m…** ” he struggled to get the words out and Omera patiently waited for him to finish his sentence, “ **...I’m not _overprotective_** _._ ”

His petulance caused her to laugh, “There’s nothing wrong with being _overprotective_ , it shows that you care,” she smiled softly at him and Mando found his heart doing little flips.

Ah.

That was going to be a problem.

“Well, I’ll leave you to your food,” she walked towards the door and paused at the entrance, turning around she gave him another grin, “It was nice to meet you, Mando.”

She left before he could get a word out and Mando felt slightly relieved. He didn’t know what he’d do if the conversation had gone on for any longer. Chatting wasn’t his strong suit, and—Mando thinks he might be sick, his heart was acting up at the end there. Heart attack, maybe? He _was_ feeling a bit tired.

Sighing, he made sure there would be no more interruptions before taking off his helmet. Breathing in the fresh air and enjoying the slight breeze on his bare face, Mando began to eat.

XXXX

Harry was having the time of his life, playing, laughing, and just generally enjoying life.

He’d been startled when one of the guys shoved him to the ground, but the boy apologized a hundred times saying how he didn’t realize how _light_ Harry was. Harry laughed it off but couldn’t help but feel self-conscious after that, suddenly realizing how much _taller_ and _healthier_ the other kids were. Luckily, those negative thoughts didn’t last long when the boy who was _still_ apologizing was tackled with a battle cry by a little girl that sort of reminded Harry of a younger Hermione with all the curls. Soon enough, everyone was laughing and giggling in a pile, smelling of dirt and sweat with all their roughhousing.

That’s how they spent the rest of the afternoon, playing and getting to know each other. Harry forgot all about eating lunch until the Mandalorian physically dragged his ass back to the hut and told him that under no conditions was he allowed to leave until he ate all of his food. He pouted and whined but complied, the child who had tired himself out was softly snoring away in his crib.

The next day, Harry watched silently as Cara and the Mandalorian head out to track the raider’s footprints. With the baby settled against his hip, Harry headed out to see if he could help with the harvesting. But when he went about to offer his help, he was shooed away, “You should be playing with the others, not helping us old people!”

Harry would argue that’s exactly why he should help. Nevertheless, he slinked off to find kids to hang out with. Making sure to keep an eye on the child at all times (wouldn’t want a repeat of what happened at the restaurant).

Harry was in the middle of scolding the child for putting unsanitary things in his mouth (bugs) when Omera came along with her daughter trailing behind her. Realizing that the daughter was the same one who tackled the older boy in his defense, Harry grinned. Yup, she definitely reminded him of Hermione.

“Good morning Harry,” She smiled and scanned the area, “Where’s your father?”

Harry sputtered disbelievingly, “F-father?! Wha—no! I don’t have a…a…a dad!”

Omera blinked then smirked causing the young wizard to take a step back in nervousness. When a seemingly nice and motherly woman smirks at you, then you know something’s up.

Omera cupped her cheek and laughed daintily, “Oh of course! My apologies! I meant your Papa!”

Harry choked, not believing what he was hearing. _Papa?!!_ He thought hysterically to himself, _this woman is crazy!_ And he was about to tell her exactly that but Omera, not one to give up easily, bowled right over anything the boy had to say, “Did he leave the two of you alone, with no supervision?” She frowned, clearly not impressed with Mando’s parenting.

Harry, finally regaining his composure, straightened up and scowled, “We don’t need a babysitter, I can take care of myself and the baby!”

She softened, and tried to sooth the defensive boy, “I understand, but with the Klatooinian roaming around I just thought the Mandalorian wouldn’t have left you without supervision.”

Harry deflated, realizing that Omera wasn’t trying to be mean. She was just worried…and wow if that didn’t through Harry for a loop (when was the last time an adult asked if he was okay?). It wasn’t everyday that a practical stranger worried about his well being.

Seeing that Harry was no longer bristling, the young mother chirped, “Why don’t you and,” she gazed down and the child who was all dirty from playing in the mud, “Your brother come over and get washed up for lunch?”

Harry tentatively accepted her offer seeing as the Mandalorian was no where to be found. Bending down to pick up the muddy baby, Harry was interrupted by a tap on his shoulder.

“U-um! Can I hold him?”

The teen gazed down at the head of curls and large brown eyes that begged him to say yes, “Uh, sure.”

He handed the child to the girl— _Winta_ —was her name, Harry remembered because yesterday he heard her get scolded by an elderly man who had witnessed her spectacular tackle. Winta held the baby reverently close to her and made sure to walk slowly as to not jostle the child. Harry chuckled and said, “You know, he’s not _that_ fragile, you can walk a bit faster.”

Winta glared at him, “Yeah, but he’s falling asleep! See?”

She thrusted her arms out and Harry was amused to note that the child was indeed falling asleep in Winta's arms. _She must have the magic touch,_ Harry laughed to himself and told Winta as much, to which she beamed and cuddled the child closer, not caring that it was getting mud all over her dress.

It wasn’t until hours after lunch when the sun was heading west and the sky still shone blue, did Mando and Cara come back from their tracking.

Harry was the first to spot them. Jumping up and sprinting towards the emerging duo, the boy screetched to a halt in front of them, “How’d it go?! Did you beat them? How many were there? Can we stay a bit longer? Wha--"

The Mnadalorian raised his hand in a stop motion and Harry tried his best to suppress a flinch at the motion and then immediately scolded himself, _he’s wasn’t going to hit you, idiot!_ Feeling bad about reacting badly to the Mandalorian’s innocent gesture, Harry forced a smile.

(From the corner of her eye Cara saw Mando’s hand clench to a fist, the leather straining against the force.)

The Mandalorian sighed and said, “Go get the Child and start packing…we’re leaving.”

The wizard gaped at him not being able to comprehend what the hunter was saying, “W-What?”

But the Mandalorian was already halfway to their hut and Harry was left standing at the endge of the clearing. Cara pat him comfortingly and gently steered the shocked boy towards the retreating mercenary, “Sorry kid, the job turned out to be much more than we where expecting.”

Harry slumped forward, “Yeah…I guess…”

The Gryffindor really thought this was it. They’d settle down on this cute farm, relax with the locals, and maybe brainstorm a couple of ideas on a way to send Harry back home. If not, well…. If not, then Harry had thought…maybe, just maybe…they could have been… ** _family_**.

It was stupid, _of course_ this was a temporary thing. The Mandalorian never said they where going to _stay here_. Harry sighed forlornly, he was going to miss Omera and Winta.

By the time they made it back to their little hut, Mando had broken then news, and non too gently going by the outraged cries.

Cara groaned and rolled her eyes muttering, “That guy needs to learn better bed side manners,” before swooping in to save Mando’s ass.

Harry lingered at the edge of the crowd, curious in spite himself. He heard something about a giant robot? He furowed his brow in confusion, what was a rovot doing in the middle of nowhere? Then it clicked, _that must be why we’re leaving! The robot is too much for Cara and Mando to take on alone!_ Satisfied in figuring the problem out, Harry figured that if they could all team up, surely they could beat a giant robot?

“ **It’s too much for just two of us to take on.** ”

Yup, he called it.

“Then have the villagers help you.”

As one, the whole village turned to look at Harry, who startled, not realizing he said his thoughts out loud. The villagers all murmured to themselves nodding in agreement. A man in the front spoke up, “Yeah! We can help!”

“YEAH!!” The whole group shouted and cheered, urging the Mandalorianto reconsider.

The hunter just shook his head.

Harry, seeing that their yelling and pleading wasn’t doing them any good, stepped up once more, desperate to find a why to stay, “Look!”

The village all quieted down and they all gave Harry their full attention. Taking a deep breath, he began, “I know it seems hopeless, but if we work together we can make a difference! This is your village! Your people! Are you going to let some measly scavengers take away what you’ve worked so hard for?!”

“NO!” They roared in response.

Harry nodded is satisfaction, “Exactly! So we’re going to fight! Fight for our land! Fight for your future! This is _our_ home!! So fight for it!!”

Harry’s rallying speech, though short, caused a flame to ignite in each of the villagers hearts. They cried and roared in excitement and righteous fury, chanting, “Fight, fight fight!!!”

And Harry could only sit back with a grin as the people who were weary and pleading the Mandalorian for help were now gearing up to battle their assailants, roaring their need for justice. It got Harry’s blood singing and fingers twitching at the chance to duel because at the end of the day, he was born to be a fighter. 

XXXXX

“Holy shit,” Cara breathed, watching in awed silence as this pint sized kid riled up the usually peaceful village into a roaring crowd thirsting for vengeance. Mando could only watch in shocked silence, gaze firmly fixed on the kid’s back (for a split second, Din could have sworn he saw a golden halo surround the kid). Where did he learn that? To rally the people behind him. Or was it just instinct? Charisma like that was not something you just _had_ , right?

Mando narrowed his eyes in suspicion, something was going on here and he’s be damned if he didn’t find out.

Shaking his head to clear his head, Mando stepped up, “ **Well, as inspiring as this is, that doesn’t change the fact that none of you know how to fight.** ”

He saw Harry raise his hand in protest, Mando glared at the kid who lived to make his life harder, “ **Not you. You and me? We’re gonna have a talk after this.** ”

The boy sheepishly lowered his hand and the villagers murmured, then Omera, the traitor, spoke up, “Why don’t _you_ teach us how to fight?”

He shook his head, “No I—”

“Yeah! Let the Mandalorian teach us to fight!”

Mando groaned as everyone shouted their approval, if he could, he’d pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration. This was not how his afternoon was supposed to go.

Once more shooting a glare in the brat’s direction Mando sighed and raised his hands in defeat, “ **Alright. Alright! I will teach you all how to fight!** ”

The people yelled in excitement, murmuring to one another, wondering what the Great Mandalorian was going to teach them.

“ ** _But!_** ” They all quieted down, listening in temptation, “ **We will start tomorrow morning, at the crack of dawn! Only those healthy enough and willing to fight! No elderly or children!** ”

The village hurriedly agreed, seeing no problem with Mando’s request. After that, they dispersed into groups, each talking about what’s to come.

Now.

To deal with the problem child.

“ **Family meeting. Inside. Now.** ” He said before walking into their hut, twitching in embarrassment when he heard Cara whisper to the brat, “Did he just say **_family_** meeting?” and the brat snickering in reply.

Once inside he was surprised to find the Child waiting for them quietly in his crib, as if knowing that this was about to be serious. Brushing off the Child’s strange behavior in favor of focusing on the _other_ child, Mando gestured for the brat to sit down.

Sensing that he was going to get a scolding, Harry sat down on his bed with no fuss.

Stapling his fingers together, Mando began, “Harry…”

The kid flinched and Mando frowned, hating the fact that he was about to make the kid uncomfortable. But it was something that needed to be done, he’d put it off for too long, he needed to be the responsible adult here, easier said than done. He had no idea what he was doing. Or how to solve the kid’s reckless abandonment problem. Mando was just going to pray he didn’t fuck this up.

“I understand you want to help these people, but causing a riot is not helping.” Ok, so far so good.

The kid opened his mouth to argue but Mando beat him to it, “It’s not. You’re just sending a bunch of untrained civilians into a battle that they won’t win. They’ll die. And that will be on you.”

XXXX

_They’ll die. And that will be on you._

It echoed around his head and Harry trembled, but not with fear. With rage. He gets it. He knows where the Mandalorian was coming from. He had railed up a group of defenseless farmers into attacking a group of gun-slinging scavengers. That was bad. He _gets it_. But—

_But that’s what I was raised to do._

The moment he stepped into the Wizarding World Harry was expected to fight. To be a Savior. Never mind the fact that he was a kid or that he didn’t know the first thing about dueling. It was expected of him.

And he delivered.

Year after year. Battle after battle. He delivered. He fought, not with skill, but with a sort of desperate need to survive another day. It was all he knew. It was all he **had**. To throw himself wholly into the fray and hope he would make it out alive.

Somewhere in the middle of that, he gained friends. Friends who wouldn’t abandon him. Friends who would fight beside him even though, they too, knew nothing about dueling. They would learn as they went. He encouraged them. After all, if it wasn’t for that speech he made in his first year, would they have thrown their lives away with him? No. No, they probably wouldn’t have. They were kids, and Harry—Harry hadn’t been a kid for a long time.

Their deaths would have been on _him_.

Harry’s fists clenched and he let out a choked sob. _My fault. My fault, my faultmyfaultmyfault. My. Fault._

He shook with the force of his silent cries, thinking of all the times he persuaded his friends to go into danger because he thought it was the _right thing to do_. What utter bullshit. He just didn’t want to die alone. He should have gone to an adult, Dumbledore or McGonagall surely would have—

He stopped.

No.

They didn’t help.

He _had_ gone for their help. But they refused. They refused when he needed it the most. Just like the Mandalorian did when the village needed his help.

The rage was back. Hotter than ever. Sitting up from his hunched form, Harry looked up into the worried gaze of the Mandalorian who was hovering awkwardly above him, clearly not knowing what to do with Harry’s break down.

“I didn’t do anything wrong.”

The hunter was taken aback, “What?”

“I. Didn’t. Do. Anything. Wrong.” The wizard snarled, “You where going to abandon them! You where going to let that thing hurt them!”

“No I—”

“Yes, you were!” Harry interrupted, too mad to let the Mandalorian get a word in, “You were going to leave them here with those people hunting them! You’re just like the rest of them!!” He stood up, “You say one thing and then do another! You promise that everything will be “ok” and that its all for “my own good”, BUT ITS NOT PROFESSOR!!!”

XXXX

He fucked up.

He fucked up big time.

The kid was crying! Was he too harsh? Maybe a different approach would have been better? Oh shit. How does one deal with a crying child?!

Mando stood up and strode forward, the lack of reaction to his sudden movements was telling how distressed the boy was. He hovered near the child, hesitant to initiate contact but at the same time wanting to envelope the kid in a hug. Hugs were nice. At least from what Mando could recall, it’s been a while since he’d received or given out a hug so it was hard to judge.

In the end, Mando didn’t do anything and was startled when the boy looked up, eyes red from crying but a snarl curling up his mouth.

The ensuing argument was—was _enlightening_ to say the least. So yeah, Mando should have gone for a more gentler approach, or at least not outright blame the kid for killing people (oops?). But the last statement is what really go his attention. Professor? Who the fuck—?

Now Mando was mad.

_Who the_ _fuck_ turned their back on _his_ kid?!

Forcefully shoving his rage down (it wouldn’t do him any good now), Mando grabbed a hold of Harry’s hands, forcing the boy to stop and look at him. The kid violently flinched ( _son of a—_ ) and Mando ignored that in favor of making sure the kid knew how sincere he was, “ **Look, Harry. _I’m sorry._** ”

That got his attention.

“ **I’m sorry you thought I was going to leave the people to defend themselves. I wasn’t. I was going to tip off some old friends who are better equipped to deal with a AT-RT.** ”

The boy deflated and he sniffed, “Oh. I thought…”

Mando went for a hug (finally), “ **I know, but where doing it now so its _okay_. We’ll figure this out _together_.**”

Harry was ridged at first before he relaxed and hugged Mando back as tightly as he could, seemingly afraid that Mando would let go.

That’s how they were when Cara walked in on them, “Hey I was wondering—ah,” She looked back and forth between the tearstained mess that was Harry and the stoic looking mercenary who was in his space, “Harry,” she said in a serious tone, “Did he make you cry?”

Harry rubbed his swollen eyes and stuttered, “Um…sort of? B-But its fine now—!”

Mando tensed, braced himself as Cara tackled his ass with a battle cry, the Child laughing uproariously as it witnessed their fighting. They wrestled and Cara cried out, “How dare you hurt my adorable nephew!” 

Mando yelped as he was hit roughly on his arm, “ **Nephew?! Who the hell named you Aunt?!** ”

Cara punched his helmet, and confidently proclaimed, “I did!”

Dazed by the blow, he could only lay there and take the abuse until Harry intervened with a shout, “Hey! Don’t beat each other up!”

The Child just giggled and clapped its hands, clearly disagreeing with Harry and finding their play fighting extremely amusing. Cara got up and with a huff, pulled Mando up as well, “Hope you learned your lesson…Papalorian.”

Mando jerked and fell back down gasping out a, “ **What?** ”

Even the kiddos looked at the former Rebel as if she lost her mind. Mando thought she had. Clearly, he must have hit her too hard when they first met.

Cara laughed, “You guys don’t have to be so offended by something that’s true!” She pointed at the Child, “Baby,” Then pointed at Harry, “Child,” Pointed at Mando, “Dad,” Then pointed her thumb at herself and proudly exclaimed, “Aunt!”

There was a period of silence that was broken by Mando’s deadpanned, “ ** _No._** ”

The rest of the afternoon was spent with Cara, later joined by Harry who would never miss an opportunity to tease Mando, laughing and joking about his _“fatherly”_ traits (“Papalorian!” “No, no, _ManDADlorian_!” “Hahaha! Good one!” “ **I hate you all** ”).

It wasn’t until both children where tucked into bed that Cara approached Mando who was sitting outside and gazing at the tranquil night.

“So,” She began, plopping herself down next to him, “Professor, huh?”

“ **How long were you listening?** ”

Cara snorted, “You knew I was there from the beginning.”

Mando stayed silent, not needing to confirm the Rebel’s statement. It was quite for a while, the only sounds heard where the rustling of the forest and the chirping of the crickets. The sky was twinkling with an occasional shooting star passing by. Mando broke the peaceful silence, “ **I’m gonna kill them.** ”

Cara smirked, knowing very well who Mando was talking about, she agreed, “You’ll have to find them first.”

“ **Don’t worry,** ” Mando gaze hardened, “ **I will.** ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Let me start by saying: I’m so sorry for not updating last week! For personal reasons I could not update, and I felt bad for the rest of the week. But fear not! I have updated today on time! This chapter was just progressing Mando’s understanding of what Harry has gone through, and wow is this part of the story long! I’m gonna have to wrap up “Sanctuary” next chapter before it drags out! As for Harry’s speech…lets be real, I have no talent in writing speeches. I tried my best though! Please review and once again, sorry for all grammar and spelling mistakes! ^^
> 
> P.S. Does anybody listen to the Death Note Musical? There’s a song called Where is the Justice and I can clearly picture an older and tired-of-everyone’s-shit-especially-the-Ministry Harry singing this. Just thought I should put that out there.


	9. The Savior

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mando has multiple heart attacks. Also, lots and lots of angst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick Rant:  
> *deep breath* FUCK 2020!!! First my freaking wifi goes down for an entire week (its still shitty) then I get the news that my Uncle tested positive for you-know-fuckin’-what (you know what I’m talkin’ about!)??!! Fuck. ThIS. SHIT. Don’t EVeN GeT mE STarTED On WoRK!!! *takes deep calming breaths* Sorry. You guys ain’t here for my shit. You’re here for Harry’s shit. So without further ado…here’s Chapter Nine-->

With a large yawn and a stretch, Harry Potter was ready to start his first day of training!

“ **No.** ”

Or so he thought.

“No?” Harry repeated with a tint of hysteria in his voice, “What do you mean “no”?”

The Mandalorian didn’t even turn to look at him as he surveyed the rows of people doing push-ups, or at least, they were _supposed_ to be. Most had quite obviously stopped to listen in on the ensuing argument.

“ **I _mean_ , you’re not going to fight. _You_ will be hidden along with the other children of the village.**”

Harry fumed, “But I—” from behind the Mandalorian, Cara faintly shook her head mouthing; ‘ _he’s in a bad mood’_. Clicking his tongue in frustration, Harry huffed out a short, “ _Fine,_ ” and turned to leave the adult to themselves.

Storming away, the teen decided to spend the rest of the day ignoring the Mandalorian, _that’ll teach him_ , he thought in satisfaction. Was he being petty? Yes. Yes, he was.

Harry slumped forward and groaned, “Ugh! I feel like we’re always going in circles!”

It was true. One-minute Harry felt like…well, like the hunter was an adult he could trust and depend on, the next, he felt like strangling the bloody sod. It was a constant back and forth and Harry could admit that he hasn’t exactly made it easy on the Mandalorian…but still! Its not like the hunter was making it easier either!

He huffed, crossing his arms and blowing away a strand of stray hair, “Stupid. Why did we _both_ have to be socially inept?”

“What does so-ci-lly in-depth mean?”

Harry jumped, clutching his chest in surprise, “Winta! Don’t scare me like that!”

The little girl smiled sheepishly, “Sorry, Harry! It’s just...” she fiddled with the hem of her dress, “You looked so smad!”

Harry cocked his head in bemusement, “Smad?”

“Hm!” She gave him a toothy grin, “Tabatha told me that when you’re mad and sad at the same time, it’s called smad!”

The teen laughed, suddenly remembering that time some kids at his preschool spread the word “smad” around claiming it was an actual word and like idiots, most kids believed them. It went to the point that Harry took it upon himself to search it up in the school’s library only to find that “smad” wasn’t even a word. He had tried to tell the other kids this, but of course, they didn’t listen. A few days later, they had an assembly where the principal herself stated there was no such word. After that, most kids gave him the cold shoulder (better than the bullying if you asked him).

Winta sulked, “What’s so funny?”

Calming down from his bout of laughter Harry waved her question off, “Nothing, nothing, just thinking about the past is all…”

Shaking his head to get rid off the memories, Harry smiled fondly down at the girl, “Lets go find Bob!”

Winta frowned, “Bob?” she thought for a bit before brightening up in realization. Pointing up to the sky in a ‘ah-ha’ moment she exclaimed, “Oh! You mean _Cheche_!”

Now it was Harry’s turn to be confused, “Che-che?”

Winta nodded eagerly, “Hm! Mama told me it means **small**! So all the kids started calling him that!”

The older boy mauled over the name before humming his approval, “Hm… _Cheche_ …I like it!”

Winta beamed brightly at him causing Harry to grin at the little girl’s pleasure, “Right, let’s go find Cheche!”

They spent the rest of the day exploring the village and the surrounding forest, making sure to always stay in sight of at least one adult. Harry wasn’t stupid enough to take Winta into danger, especially with those scavengers skulking around who-knows-where. And if part of the reason they where so close to the forest edge was because Harry wanted to secretly look out for any danger himself, well, that was his business. What could he say? He was twitchy. Jumping at every shadow and tensing at any sudden movement. At one point, Winta asked if he was okay when he’d almost blasted another kids face off with a blaster he managed to swipe from the Mandalorian (his magic was still a bit funky, it was best to be prepared).

After that little incident, Harry called it a day and drudged back home, child settled on his hip.

Home.

It was just one word. One measly word that wouldn’t really mean anything to anyone else, but for Harry? It made his shoulders feel a little bit lighter, his head held just a bit higher, and his heart a bit fuller. His worries seem to melt away like that chocolate Dudley once left in the car. He was practically skipping his way home, the child on his hip giggling and feeding off of Harry’s positive energy.

Speaking of energy…

Swinging the baby around he mock glared at the little green bean, “Is it true?”

The baby tilted its head, “Uah?”

Harry chuckled at the cute sight, “That you’ve got magic, silly!”

“Mmaah?”

“Yeah, magic!”

The child continued to stare at him in confusion. Harry frowned, “Come to think of it,” he brought the baby closer so that they where nose to nose, “I don’t really feel the same kind of energy coming from you.”

Harry squinted, “It’s a lot more….um, unyielding? Or like…like it’s a gift and not something…uh, not something…”

In the end Harry gave up trying to describe it, setting the child down once more.

It seems so long ago now when he first entered Ollivanders’ wand shop and felt that rush of foreign magic hit him. Since then, Harry had gotten better at sensing things—magic particularly. It’s not something he actively looks out for though, sensing magic at Hogwarts usually gave him a headache since Hogwarts herself was drenched in it.

Anyways, the point was: Cheche’s energy felt different than his. Much different.

The pitter patter of the child waddling underfoot and the loud chirping of the crickets where the only sounds heard as Harry slowly but surely made his way home. Just as he was climbing the short steps leading to the door, the creak of someone stepping on the creaky floorboards made Harry tense up. For a split second, he panicked. The young wizard thought he had been found; _how did they find me? Is the connection Dumbledore mentioned stronger than I thought?_ _What am I going to tell Mando? What will happen to Cheche?!_ These thoughts and more raced through his head in an instant, he was wound up from all the talk of fighting and battles that Harry’s mind instantly flashed to the worst-case-scenario.

He instantly relaxed once he realized it was just ‘aunt’ Cara, “Oh, I thought you where someone else.”

The muscular woman crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, “Uh-huh, and who did you think I was that caused you to instantly start up your crazy-mystical-powers?”

Harry looked down and realized his fist was clenched and quite clearly _glowing_ with the force of his magic, ready to burst at a moments notice. Quickly hiding his hand behind his back, Harry rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, “Ah, um…. why are you here? Did you want to talk to Mando?”

Cara made a face that clearly read that she wasn’t impressed with his lame attempt at changing the subject, but let it go nonetheless.

“No. I’m actually here to talk to you.”

Harry shifted uncomfortably, feeling like this was a start to another one of those ‘emotional conversations’, “Oh? About what?”

Cara sighed and, sensing Harry’s discomfort, tried to relax her stance, “Mando’s kinda…stressed right now.”

Harry snorted, “He’s always _stressed_.”

Cara shook her head, “Well he’s more so now…now that he was _kids_ to take care of and all…I think he feels the weight of that responsibility so…what I’m trying to say is…”

Harry too sighed, knowing what Cara was trying to convey he finished her sentence for her, “Go easy on him about the whole “no training” thing? Yeah. I know.”

He suddenly felt the need to study the wooden floorboards beneath his feet. Merlin, this was hard. Who knew that having a family would be so difficult? He’d sort of gotten a hint of it with Ron and Hermione, but this felt like another level altogether. Maybe it was because Harry considered them as _family_ that he found it so hard to open up. He was frightened that, just like his third year, his only chance at family would disappear. It was terrifying. It was nerve wrecking. It was tearing him apart. It was… it was…

It was _invigorating_.

_‘Invigorating: to make someone feel strong, healthy, and full of energy.’_

_‘Wow Hermione. I know we always joke that you’re a walking dictionary, but we didn’t know you **were** actually one!’_

_‘Ha-ha, very funny Ron.’_

Shaking the memory away, Harry gathered up his courage and looked at Cara in the eye, “I _know_. I would do the same thing if I was him.”

And Cara believed him.

Harry might have been a teen—a child really—but he was no fool, and Cara saw that and acknowledged it. Slumping in relief she smiled and clapped her hands together, gazing suspiciously around for any possible spectators, Cara leaned in conspiratorially, “I’m not really supposed to do this but, if you really want to, I can tach you a few self-defense moves. But!” She cut off Harry’s excited yell, “Only if you promise not to use them during the upcoming battle! Only for self-defense, got it?”

Harry nodded enthusiastically, “Yeah! Promise!”

“Alright,” Cara smiled and shooed them inside, “Now go and get some rest, we start tomorrow morning bright and early!”

Harry tried to contain his grin as he skipped inside with Cheche in tow, the Mandalorian waiting for them by the dinner table. Sitting down for dinner with Mando and Cheche, Harry smiled to himself as he watched Mando struggle to get the child to eat cleanly.

Feeling his gaze, the Mandalorian looked up, “ **What?** ”

Harry ducked his head and tried to contain his joy, “Nothing.”

Yeah, he could get used to this.

XXXX

After tucking both children in, Mando silently walked out into the porch where Cara was already waiting for him. It had become a sort of routine of theirs to meet up every night and just quietly gaze up at the stars, each lost in their own thoughts. Sometimes they would talk about everything and nothing, and other times they were just content with each other’s company. It was nice. A chance to relax, something Mando felt he needed more of.

This time, Cara broke the silence first with a simple question, “Why?”

Okay, well, maybe not so simple.

Mando turned questionably to look at the Rebel, “ **Why what?** ”

Cara too turned to look at Mando, “I mean, why have _me_ teach him? Why not you? And why all the secrecy?”

Mando mauled over the question. Why indeed. Why did he get attached so quickly? Why was he trying so hard to give them what he never had? Why care? Why try?

Cara waited patiently for Mando’s answer, knowing how hard it was for a man like him to put his thoughts and feelings into words. Hell, she was like that…even the kid was like that. Emotionally damaged. Yet, they marched on, and that was all that mattered.

“ **Because…** ”

She gazed at the struggling form next to her silently.

“ **…Because I don’t think he wants to talk to me right now, and I’m too busy at the moment to really take the time to _teach_ him. I…I want him to be _happy_. I want _all of us_ to be happy…together. To have what I could never afford, a _family_. I want—**”

Mando choked, grappling with the right words to say, “ **I want to protect them. I know I’m too late to stop the scars from being there in the first place, but… I want to stop from new ones forming.** ”

Mando looked back up at the starry night sky, “ **Does that make sense?** ”

Cara smiled a bit wistfully and softly replied while gazing up at a particularly bright star, “Yeah…it makes _perfect_ sense.”

After that little revelation, they both spend the rest of their time together just silently taking in the night, each lost in their own world.

XXXXX

It was time.

The day the Village took back what was theirs was finally here…

And Harry wasn’t part of it.

Feeling a bit left out, Harry silently watched as everyone bustled about to make the final adjustments for the fence they were building for the battle. It wasn’t much of a fence really, more like a warning sign sent to the scavengers to not mess with them.

“I’m scared Harry.”

Harry looked down at Winta who was curled up next to him and frowning at the scene before her, “What if Mama get’s hurt?”

The teen sighed and patted her hair comfortingly, “It will be okay. Your Mama’s pretty strong…I’m sure she’ll be alright.”

Winta seemed to relax a bit from his words and Harry smiled down at her. He was smiling but, inside he felt like throwing up. Harry was used to being the one leading the charge, but now, being sidelined, he finally knew what his friends felt like when he went out recklessly on his own. It wasn’t a nice feeling. Harry hated not knowing if Mando would be okay, at least Cheche would stay by his side.

“Alright kiddos!”

Cara rounded up all the kids and elderly who where already piled up in a group, each one worrying over their loved ones, “Say your goodbyes and lets get moving!”

Her insensitive wording just aggravated them more and Harry gazed around in helplessness as everyone tearfully wished their—daughters, sons, mothers, fathers, uncles, and aunts—good luck. Harry clenched his fist and gazed up at Cara with a lump suck in his throat, not knowing what to say.

As if sensing his struggle, Cara grinned at him and ruffled up his hair, “I’ll be fine, kid!” nodding towards the Mandalorian who was clutching Cheche like a lifeline, Cara said, “Go to him. He’ll need your encouragement.”

Slowly, Harry turned and walked stiffly over to the Mandalorian through the groups of families, and overhearing the conversations going on around him.

“No! Mama! Don’t go!!”

“It’ll be just for a little while Honey! Mama—Mama will be alright!”

“Here, dear. I knitted you a lucky sweater.”

“Thanks Mom, I’ll make sure to wear it.”

“That’s my boy! Off to save the world!”

“Daaad! I’m not “saving the world”, I’m just fighting for the village!”

“In my eyes, you might as well be.”

“Be safe, Uncle! Aunty!”

“I’m proud of you son!”

“Dad…come back safely…okay?”

“You can count on me!”

By the time Harry painstakingly made his way to the Mandalorian, he was close to tears.

While most people would think a battle this small wouldn’t be a cause for such ruckus, Harry thought otherwise. This battle would make or break these people’s future. It would change the way this village thought. It would make their history. Harry knew more than anyone that with any battle there came casualties. Maybe not just physical, but emotional and phycological as well…. and Harry felt ashamed. Ashamed that _he_ was the one to arouse such fighting spirit in them.

_What have I done?_

Any deaths would be felt heavily by everyone, but Harry would feel the weight of the loss even more so. _He_ was the one to send them to their deaths. For the first time since their argument, Harry _truly_ understood the ramifications of his actions—of what Mando said.

Trembling, he came to a stop in front of the Mandalorian who had paused his smothering to quietly watch Harry march towards him. They hadn’t really talked since Mando shut down Harry’s idea of joining them for training. Sure, they spoke to each other in passing, but it wasn’t the easy banter they once had.

Now, Harry felt the weight of things he should have said. Standing there, head down and biting his lip to will the tears away, Harry found his infamous Gryffindor bravery leaving him. Silent tears trickled down his face and finally, he found his voice.

Head snaping up, face flushed with tears and snot running down, Harry shouted, “Y-You better come back a-alive s-s-stupid… ** _D-DAD!!_** ”

The clearing hushed down as everyone turned to the source of the yell.

Harry ducked his head back down, ears reddening in embarrassment as he waited for the Mandalorian to answer back.

Mando, who was clearly taken aback and flustered himself from the loud confession could only give out a weak, “H-Hn.”

The village who had been watching the newly declared father-son duo in amusement, protested at the Mandalorian’s lack of anything to say. One bold old man hollered, “Is that all ya got to say?! For my old and worn lucky-underwear’s sake, give that boy a hug!!”

Mando listen to the old man’s advice and awkwardly hugged Harry as best as he could with an arm full of the cooing child.

The crowd cheered.

Both boiz flushed self-consciously.

Cara looked on at their bonding heavily amused.

In the end, they both left feeling just as nervous as they were before, only this time, they had big smiles on their faces (or little ones…who knows with Mando?).

Harry had Winta and Cheche settled on either side of him, both cuddling close to the person they both relied on the most. He had cleaned his face from his earlier embarrassing cry with a quick _Scourgify_ and he looked like he’d never made a scene…except for the fact that his eyes were still red.

The hiding place for those unable to fight wasn’t anything fancy. Just an old farmhouse where they managed to set up a few barriers that would prevent anyone form getting in or out. Only until the coast was clear would someone from the outside come and get them. Until then, they would wait.

They hid among the hay and waited.

There was the sounds of fighting and gun shots.

A child whimpered in the terrified silence of the barn and was quickly hushed by one of the grandmothers.

A scream. Was it one of ours? They didn’t know.

Harry tensed up even more as the minutes passed. The child and Winta could feel his aggravation and clutched him even tighter in response.

One hour.

“I’m hungry,” A child whispered to her grandparents who murmured back comfortingly.

How long had it been since it started? Two hours? Five? Six? Harry didn’t know anymore, and he felt the anxiety building up. He caught a few wisps of his magic escaping from his body in wild curls and Harry clamped his control up tight, not wanting to potentially hurt anyone with how wound up he was.

They heard a rustle.

Harry held his breath as something, or _someone_ sniffed around their hiding place. There were two of them, judging by the sound of their footsteps. Unless it was a type of alien that had four legs, then Harry had no bloody clue.

Everyone tensed as one when they heard the sound of the lock being jiggled, and they all clamped their hands over their mouths when it felt like the Klatooinians could hear their heavy breathing. The noise faded and for one relief filled moment, they thought they where safe…then there was a BANG!

They collectively flinched as the barrier was hit with force. Clearly, these scavengers thought the villagers where hiding precious supplies here (an oversight on the villager’s part), and they were…just not the kind the Klatooinians thought.

Winta involuntarily let out a shriek which was cut off as Harry clamped a sweaty palm over her mouth. But it was too late, they had heard her. Now they were constantly banging on the door, trying to break it so that they could get in.

There was no way around it, Harry had to do something.

Standing up, he told Winta in a soft but firm whisper, “Protect Cheche.”

“ _Harry!_ ”

He ignored her hiss of concern and concentrated, focusing on that long-forgotten feeling of _Apparating_. It was something he managed to do once, many years ago when Dudley and his Gang chased him through the school’s playground, where he suddenly found himself on the school’s rooftop. It wasn’t until he mentioned that incident in passing that he finally had a name for it.

_‘You Apparated Harry! That’s exceedingly difficult thing to do!’_

_‘Yeah mate. Some adults still struggle with it!’_

With a sharp _pop_ , Harry opened his eyes and found himself standing just on the other side of the barn wall where they were hidden. Gaining his bearings, Harry rushed towards the front where he saw two scavengers there trying their hardest to get in. Taking a deep breath, Harry bellowed, “Hey you! You pit-bull rejects! Come and get me!!”

They both turned to him and snarled, probably not understanding his insult but getting the gist of it nonetheless. They brandished their spears and swords, and Harry paled, once again not thinking things through.

“Crap,” With that last word passing through his lips, Harry bolted.

Skidding as he made a sharp left, Harry dodged and weaved his way towards the sounds of fighting. His plan was to lead these two goons away from everyone else and get someone else to fight them off for him…preferably the Mandalorian. Simple, _and_ he wouldn’t have broken his promise of “no fighting”. It’s a win-win!

But of course.

Harry’s plans always go to shit.

Sometime during their chase, the two Klatooinians did the smart thing (a first I’m sure) and split up, one going farther head to corner Harry while the other chased him to their trap. Soon enough the wizard found himself backed to a corner with no where to run.

Breathing heavily, Harry racked his brain for some sort of plan. Too late. Before he could come up with anything or charge up his fluctuating magic, one of the dog-like alien lunged. Instinctively, Harry’s body remembered the hours of tor—ahem, _training_ —that Cara put him through just for situations like these. Dodging, he hit the spear the raider was using with the palm of his hand to push the blade away from him, throwing the Klatooinian off balance. The other lunged seeing an opportunity but Harry twirled out of the way and shoved the sword wielding scavenger towards his comrade who was still regaining his balance. Seeing at both where startled at his ability to defend himself, Harry took the opportunity to run. Carelessly throwing a _Bombarda_ behind him to trap the two in rubble.

Feeling giddy at his success, Harry glanced back and did not notice when he stepped into the battle field until a laser blast missed him by centimeters.

Harry stood horrified at the sight before him. Everyone was fighting with all they had and payed no attention to the fallen bodies on the ground…. but Harry did. He gazed wide eyed at the destruction around him. Sure, he’d been into battles, but nothing like this. These people did not have magic shield to hid under when the going gets rough. They did not have magic that would heal the loss of a limb. No, they only had what they where given; flimsy handmade spears and guns that where abandoned as soon as the enemy got too close to fire at.

Swallowing thickly, Harry desperately searched the war-torn area for his Dad, spotting him at the far end of the field trying to battle the giant robot.

_AT-ST_ , that’s what they’d called it. Eyes narrowing in fierce determination, Harry plunged into the heart of the battle. He ran at full speed, jumping over bodies and dodging stray shots. A Klatooininan spotted him and swung his mighty sword, but Harry saw it coming and used the muddy clearing to his advantage. He slid, knees hitting the floor, back bending backwards until he was almost parallel with the ground. Harry drifted right under the glinting sword, a hairs-breath away from his nose getting chopped up. Not stopping to think, Harry jumped back up in a fluid movement and, ignoring the slimy mud clinging to his pants, continued his trek towards the AT-ST.

He wouldn’t allow that stupid piece of hunk take away the only family he had. No way, no how.

He had a plan.

XXXX

“Dad! Cara!”

Mando felt the blood drain from his face and his heart stop as he heard the familiar shout of his kid. Turning around, he watched at the closing figure in what felt like slow motion.

“ ** _Harry,_** ” he breathed, gut twisting at the sight of his kid running through the battlefield like it was nothing.

Regaining his senses, Mando cried out, “ ** _What do you think your doing?!!_**”

Cara cursed beside him, “That idiot!”

Mando couldn’t help but agree with her sentiments. What was his kid thinking?! Dodging another blast, he absentmindedly shot in the direction of the attack and paid no heed to the cry of pain. Instead, his sole focus was trained on the brat who had skidded to a halt before him.

The boy was covered in mud and had scratches all over, nothing too deep thankfully, but that didn’t stop Mando’s immediate instinct to bundle up the id and hide him somewhere far way from all the bloodshed.

Grabbing the child roughly by his upper arm and dragging him closer he snarled, “ ** _Why are you here?!!_** ”

The boy brushed him off, “I’ll explain later!”

“ **Wha—** ”

Harry yanked his arm back and focused on the AT-ST, “I can take this thing out,” he murmured.

Mando had a split second to process this before the boy took off. For one heart stopping moment, Mando panicked. Reaching a handout uselessly, he watched frozen as Harry ran _straight towards the AT-ST_.

“ ** _No!_** ”

Mando ran forward to stop the idiot from getting killed, not caring that he had just ran out into the open where anyone could take a shot at him. He didn’t care about that thought. No, if he were shot his Beskar would most likely protect him, but _Harry_? Harry didn’t have Beskar armor, he didn’t have **_any_** armor.

“Mando wait!”

Cara’s call was too late, and she watched helplessly as both idiots ran towards their deaths. Spotting a raider charging towards them, she aimed and fired and the Klatooinian fell like a puppet with its strings cut, landing into the pond with a splash!

Mando chased after the stupid child only to jump into the pond as the AT-ST open fired at him. Breaking through the surface, he took at deep breath of fresh air and frantically searched the area for the boy and sighed in relief when he found the brat calmly standing there with a visible shield over him.

The worry was slowly being replaced by anger. Honestly, that brat better not get himself killed; he was going to kill the little shit himself! Mando let the anger consume him. Rage was good. Rage meant he wasn’t worried. Rage meant that he could concentrate better.

Climbing out of the pond, Mando started fighting with new vigor, channeling all of his anger into beating the shit out of the raiding Klatooinians.

XXXX

Harry had a plan.

It was a stupid plan.

Then again, when weren’t his plans a little bit stupid?

As he charged at the RT-ST Harry yanked at his magical core, pooling all he could into his center like a bomb ready to explode. His plan was simple: get close and personal then let all his raw magic lose and blast the hunk of metal to smithereens. Really, not much of a plan and more like a suicide mission.

When the RT-ST shot at him, Harry simply put up a shield and continued on his way. There was no time to hesitate. No time to stop and think, just do.

A few feet more and he would be underneath it.

Six feet.

Five feet.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

**_BOOM!!_ **

In an explosion of light and debris, the ensuing battle came to a full halt as both sides gawked at the destructive beauty that was Harry Potter’s **magic**.

People stared, watching in horrified fascination as one little boy caused massive destruction. After a few moments of just watching, the Klatooinians reacted first.

“ _Retreat!!!_ ” 

They fled, tripping over themselves and others to get away from what they perceived to be a unstoppably dangerous force.

The villagers gazed at the retreating backs of their enemies and then glanced at each other, shouting a victory cry, “WE WON!!”

People celebrated and cheered, hugging and crying in relief, all seemingly forgetting the reason they won. Too caught up in their miraculous victory and the liberation of finally, _finally_ being safe. That is, all but three. Omera and Cara stood side by side, horrified at the flaming mess where the AT-ST once stood.

The Mandalorian was the first to move toward the wreckage, “ ** _HARRY!_** ”

The women were snapped out of their daze by Mando’s distressed call. They glanced at each other in determination before they too ran towards the ruble.

“ **Harry! Harry! _Ad!*_** ”

Mando sank to his knees, desperately moving pieces of hot metal around trying to find his child. He called out his name multiple times, straining to hear any response. He tried turning on infrared vision but immediately regretted it as he was blinded by the various heat sources. It was a stupid move, but Mando couldn’t think, didn’t care, he needed to find his son.

A weak cough made him freeze before he scrambled up and ran towards the spot he heard it from. There, slightly off to the side, lay the still form of his kid. Falling to his knees once again, the Mandalorian carefully lifted Harry and cradled him close, gently brushing a stray hair away from the boy’s face, Mando was at a loss for what to do. There was no obvious injury, yet his child was unconscious.

“Harry! Is Harry okay?!” Omera shouted, skidding to a halt a few paces away from them with Cara right on her heels.

Mando opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by a weak cough coming from the slowly rousing teen. Whipping back around, he tensed up in anticipation.

Harry woke up slowly, groggily opening his eyes, he was greeted to the sight of the Mandalorian’s helmet hovering just above him. Smiling weakly, he tried to crack a joke, “M-Mother is that you?”

He might have not been able to see Mando’s face, but he could _feel_ his disapproval. Sheepishly chuckling, Harry slowly sat up waving away the concerned hands that were trying to help him up. His… his _dad_ (phew that was going to take some time to get used to) especially was being overly accommodating, his earlier disapproval seemingly vanishing into thin air. He hovered worriedly, not letting Harry out of his sight.

“ **Are you sure you’re alright?** ” He asked for the millionth time.

Harry sighed in exasperation, “Yes, I’m _fine_.”

Mando sighed in relief, “ **Good,** ” the did an one-eighty and snarled with his hands outreached as if to strangle the child, “ **Then what where you thinking??!!!** ”

Harry was taken aback, “Sorry?”

“ **Sorry? _Sorry?_ Is that all you have to say for yourself?!**” The Mandalorian started pacing, waving his hands in the air to emphasize his point, “ **I leave you for a few minutes and you come galivanting through a battle field like…like you where some sort of _invincible god_! Well, news flash kid! _You’re not!_** **You think you can do things like this, but you can’t! Not anymore! Which is why, from now on, you’re _grounded_ until further notice! Do you understand?!” **

Now Harry was getting mad, “What?! You can’t ground me!!”

Mando crossed his arms and growled, “ **Yes. I. Can.** ”

Throwing his arms up in the air it was Harry’s turn to rant, “What’s your problem?! I managed to save the village before the battle got too out of hand! Yet all you’re doing is yelling at me! I did what was _necessary_! Yet your acting like I just killed a bunch of people! I can never win! It’s always; “you _can’t_ do this Harry” “Try harder _Harry_ ” “Be more like _me_ Harry” “Do your job _Harry_ ” “ _Save_ us Harry” “Your just a _child_ Harry” “You shouldn’t stick your nose in other people’s business Harry”. Well I’m done!!”

Mando unclenched his jaw, too furious to really pay attention to what his kid was saying and instead focused on the most aggravating part of the boy’s rant, “ **Necessary? _Necessary?!_ You call running to your death “necessary”?! You idiot!! You could have been killed!!! Do you want to _die_?!! Do you have a death wish?!! Do you think your better than everyone else? _Is that it_?!!**” Mando was losing his composure, his temper skyrocketing as his fear transformed into pure fury, “ **If so, then I refuse to lug around such a _toxic, bullheaded, suicidal, selfish, arrogant—_** ” he took a couple steps forward.

“Mando—”

“Don’t—"

He disregarded Cara and Omera’s warning, he was too emotional to stop, **_“—rebellious waste of space!!!_** ”

The silence afterwards was suffocating, Mando panting from his angry outburst and realizing that he went too far but was unable to find the words to take it back.

Harry trembled and bit his lip hard enough till it bled, “Y-Yeah well…. who needs you anyway?!! Huh?! You’re just like the rest of them! I don’t need you! I don’t need anybody!!” he ignored the tears sliding down his face that fogged up his glasses, glaring at the Mandalorian.

Spinning around he stomped away, paying no attention to the cries to come back from Cara and Omera. Bursting through the tree line, Harry ran as far and as fast as he could, not once looking back.

Mando slumped forward, eyes watching as Harry faded to the distance, regretting every single thing he said. Cradling his head (helmet), he groaned in frustration, “ **What am I going to do?** ”

“Apologize.”

Mando turned to look at Omerta who was looking at him with a steely look in her eyes. She was angry and disappointed in the Mandalorian’s dismissal approach to dealing with the situation. It was aggravating but… understandable. From what she’d seen, Mando was emotionally as well as socially stunted, growing up as he did would do that to a person. But still, he should not have said what he had, and now he would have to reap the consequences. Saying something so harsh to a child would inevitably put a strain on their relationship, and the Mandalorian will have to work hard to earn any trust they had in the beginning, back.

Omera turned away from him, “I’ll leave you to it,” and walked away.

Mando turned to look at Cara for help but she too, walked away, “I don’t think so. This is your mess, fix it. Oh and,” she turned around one last time, “Ask the kid once and for all what his past was like.”

She left.

Mando stared at nothing. How did people do this? How do families work out their differences? Din knew, once upon a time, he knew what it was like to argue and make up with his family…but that was then, this was now. He was the adult so…what was he doing? Why was he getting g worked up like a child? Where was the cool headed Mandalorian he was infamous for?

Sighing, Mando turned towards the direction Harry ran in, “ **Here goes nothing,** ”

XXXXX  
  


Harry collapsed in a sweaty, snotty, pile, legs trembling from exertion. His head a little clearer from the exercise. He should go back. It was stupid of him to leave the safety of the village when they had just fought to defend it. Harry should probably explain himself too…and apologize. He knew Mando was simply scared of losing him and was lashing out. Merlin, he knew. He would really have to be dense to not tell how worried sick his dad was, and it was his fault. It _was_ reckless of him to throw himself into battle like that. He knew it was. He still did it though. It was the only way he knew how to finish the fight. Hell, Harry was _pretty sure_ it was because that was what he was _taught_ to do. Throw his life away for others. And when he was cornered, he reverted to what he knew.

However, that didn’t excuse Mando’s hurtful words. “Waste of space”? Yeah, like he hadn’t heard that one before. Yet, it hurt a lot more knowing it came from someone he admired and— 

He should explain. He should go back and finally tell Mando exactly what he’d been through and why he does the things he does, maybe then they’ll reach an understanding. _Yeah cuz I’m really getting tired of arguing with my Dad._

**Crunch.**

Harry startled, craning his neck around to search for the source of the sound, “H-hello?”

He wanted to smack himself as soon as he said that, what sort of idiot would give away his position? _Well, Dad was right about one thing, I **am** an idiot. _The wizard tried to get up but was unable to, Harry was suffering from magic depletion, coupled with his nonstop running, he was helpless. 

_Click_.

He froze, the sound had come from _right behind him_.

_Oh shi—_

**Bang!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: What? What? A cliff hanger?! Yes indeed! Wow was this a hard chapter to write, I suck at describing action scenes, so I hope this is okay. I know I said this will be the last chapter but I just couldn’t resist! Mando and Harry NeED SoME MiLK! Anywho~ Sorry this chapter is all over the place ☹ I’m trying, and that’s all that really matters, right? Right. I gave The Child a sorta name?More like a nickname really. It means little one or child...I think…I accidently closed the tab I was using for research so…yeah. 
> 
> *Ad [AHd]: means “son” in Mando’a ----- (thank you to that comment (sorry I can’t find it) who suggested a website for a Mando’a dictionary it’s been really helpful.)
> 
> *The idea of Harry becoming a human bomb came from that scene in Deadpool with that X-man(woman?)…uh Negasonic? So yeah, just picture it being something like that.


	10. Interlude 2—In Which Snape Bites Off More Than He Can Chew

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snape, Snape, Severus Snape! (Dumbledore!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter!

Severus Snape swept through the hallways like a…well, like an overgrown bat. Robes flaring behind him as he power-walked, students and teachers alike moved to the side not wanting to be on the receiving end of his rage. The reason for this rage? Simple: Albus Dumbledore.

The Headmaster thought it would be a good idea for Severus to be the new DA professor. Normally, he would have been ecstatic to prove himself in teaching his dream subject. Unfortunately, this wasn’t one of those times. See, the Headmaster thought it would be alright for him to tell Severus this _good news_ the **day** _before_ school started.

“I’m sure you will do your best Severus,”

His best?

_His best?!_

How in Merlin’s saggy balls (excuse his language) was he supposed to do his **best** when he’d been given only a day to rewrite his lection plans?!

So here he was, fist day of school and he’d stayed up all night to please the old coot. _Why do I even bother?_ Oh. That’s right. Because he could be easily thrown into jail without Dumbledore’s support. Sigh. The life of a double spy is one with little rewards and much pain. 

Slamming the door open probably wasn’t the best way to introduce himself to the first years taking his DADA class but well—he was running on pure caffeine, he’d like to see McGonagall try and teach a bunch of snot nosed brats after a sleepless night!

If he were a nicer man, Severus would have felt pity for the first years, but as it was, he just felt irritation piling up with every whisper and giggle.

“Fifteen points from Gryffindor!”

There was a hush silence, then…

“But Professor…there aren’t any Gryffindors here.”

They burst into giggles once more and Severus felt his eye twitch. Indeed, this class only consisted of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, but he was so out of it that ‘Gryffindor’ came out of his mouth before he could correct it. Blaming Gryffindors was a habit that came to bit him in the ass… damn it. Severus was going to _strangle_ the next person that even **breathed** in his direction.

Not really.

But he was _oh-so tempted_.

“Thirty points from _both houses_. Get back to work!” He barked and the students groaned and grumbled at his unfairness and reluctantly returned to reading their textbook introduction.

Severus relaxed slightly. Balance had been restored to the hierarchy. 

Gracefully sitting down behind his desk, Severus pretended to grade papers while actually thinking back to the discussion he had not even three day’s prior:

After assuring the meddlesome group of Gryffindors that, yes he would help them and no he wouldn’t turn them in on the condition they kept quite of his involvement in this whole thing once they were caught. Because they would get caught, there was hardly anything that happened in Hogwarts without the Headmaster’s knowledge. He had eyes and ears everywhere.

The brats reluctantly agreed, clearly mistrustful of his motivations. Severus resisted the urge to roll his eyes like a petulant child, _Gryffindor’s_.

“Since we’re all in agreement. I propose that _I_ do the ritual to track Potter.”

His suggestion was immediately met by protests, one particularly red head stood up from his seat to yell out, “What?! Hell no! For all we know you could try sabotaging our plan!!”

The others cried out in agreement and Severus felt his brow twitch in aggravation, “Keep it down imbeciles!” he hissed, internally astonished at how anyone could be this _stupid_.

_They’re not master spies like you, Severus_ , a voice that suspiciously sounded like Albus exclaimed. Shaking the voice off and throwing it in his metal chest of ‘things-I-don’t-want-to-think-about' and shutting it tight with a lock, Severus rubbed his temples and sighed, “You’re lucky I had the foresight to throw up a muffling spell before hand.”

Granger nodded thoughtfully, “Oh yes, I never thought about that…thank you Professor.”

He had a legitimate reason for requesting to do the summoning. Two words: Dark Magic. What those foolish Gryffindor’s (and Ravenclaw) failed to realize is that their little ‘plan’ involved blood and a trade. That, by the Ministry’s definition was Dark Magic. If they ended up succeeding…they could go to Azkaban without a trail, like he almost did.

No, it was better if he did it. Severus was already tainted, what’s a bit more dark magic to stain his already dark soul? At least this time, it would be for a good cause.

_Potter better be grateful_.

Those meddlesome kids had promised to have him look over their calculations, and Severus had been sworn to secrecy and that was the end of that. So far, he hadn’t seen hide or tail of the _PRT_ (Potter Rescue Team), as they’d been calling themselves. Not that he expected to, it had after all, only been three days since the discussion. He’d be surprised and maybe even a bit _disappointed_ if they had come to him so early in their research.

Glancing at the clock, Severus cursed under his breath as he realized it was almost time for the first years to pack up, “You are dismissed.”

With a flick of his wrist, the doors flew open and the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws scrambled up to leave, not wanting to stay another second with the grumpy potions master.

Rubbing his temples, Severus checked his schedule and was relieved to find he had a study hall next. _Perhaps I can sneak off and take a quick nap._

The fireplace lit up and the Headmaster’s head shone through, “Ah! There you are Severus! I need to speak to you in my office immediately.”

_Or not._

Resisting the urge to give Albus the middle finger (he wouldn’t resort to such childish gestures), Severus stood up and grabbed a handful of floo powder and shouted, “Lemon Drops!”

With a flash of green light, he appeared in Dumbledore’s office. Dusting off imaginary ash, he nearly groaned in annoyance when he saw just who else was in the room. Lupin, Black, and McGonagall were all seated with Albus at his desk facing them all. _Merlin have mercy on my soul, I’m surrounded by Gryffindors!_

Albus lit up once he spotted him, “Severus, my boy! Come sit!”

_Come boy! Sit boy! Honestly, you would think **I** was the mut in the room by the way he speaks. _The Headmaster’s eyes just twinkled brighter as if he had heard something amusing. Scowling, Severus tightened his _Occlumency_ shields. 

The next twenty-five minutes was pure torture as the ‘How to find Harry Potter Part Two’ argument continued. Not even five minutes in and Severus tuned everything out. Instead, he fantasized about his bed. Those soft black sheets made from silk and the pillows! Oh the pillows stuffed with the finest goose feathers! Yes, Severus Snape was picky about were he slept and required only the best for his “beauty” sleep. It was a simple pleasure that he treasured dearly when in his youth he had nothing but a worn down mattress and raggedy blanket to keep him warm.

He could still remember the _drip, drip_ of the roof leaking and the splash it made once the droplets fell into the bucket put in place just for rainy occasions.

“Very well, Severus will help you two find what we need to track Harry down.”

Wait, what?

What did he miss?!

“Tch. As if we need that greasy bat to help us,” Black snarled.

Oh. That’s what he’d missed. _Apparently_ , he had just volunteered to help Black and Lupin look through the Black Library for anything that might hint at Potter’s location. Oh **joy**.

“Like I want to help _you_ mongrel,” He snapped right back.

Lupin held his mut back from lunging and quickly steered him towards the floo, “Since that’s settled, Sirius and I will just head on over and start looking,” nodding toward Severus he continued, “You may join us once your ready, Severus.”

With that, they left and the Potions Master turned on his heel and swept out towards the door. Just as he turned the knob, Albus spoke up once more, “Severus?” he turned, “I’m counting on you.”

With a cruel twist of his lips and a sarcastic bow in the Headmasters direction, Severus left with a swirl of his cape.

For some reason, Severus had the distinct impression that, without him, the Wizarding World would be truly doomed. _Ha,_ he smirked, _that’s a thought._ No, unfortunately that responsibility lied solely on the Golden Boy’s shoulders. _Fools, who said the Boy-_ Who _-Lived wouldn’t have help?_ He was there when he’d head the prophecy, he knew better than anyone what it said. The prophecy never stated **how** Voldemort would be defeated…if he was to be defeated at all. Judging by how ridiculously loyal Potter’s friends were, Severus would bet his life’s savings that it will be the work of _all of them_ that will vanquish the Dark Lord. _And I’d be damned if I didn’t get front seats to that shit show._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm evil. I didn't resolve the last chapters cliffhanger. Muahahahaha!   
> Though, lets be honest, we all know Harry's gonna survive (is he tho?), he's the main character after all!   
> For some reason, I'm enjoying writing Snape's POV...probs cuz he's my fav character. (Do you guys see some similarities with Snape and Harry?). As always, spelling and grammar mistakes are mine! Comment and let me know what you guys think! 
> 
> P.S; I'm thinking of writing a new story....i dunno yet.


	11. Gone Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> shit happens idk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Season 2 of The Mandalorian was…a roller coaster of emotions. I CRIED TEARS OF PAIN AND JOY!!! *sobs*   
> Ahem—anyways—enjoy! ^^

Bang!

_Whoosh!_

Harry, who had instinctively closed his eyes in the face of his demise, hesitantly cracked an eye open. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found himself alone and whole. Patting himself just to make sure, Harry wondered what exactly had happened. One minute he was facing death and the next…the next he was standing in the middle of some sort of jungle.

Chirp!

Harry turned around, half expecting to find some carnivorous bird (hey, anything’s possible in space!). Only to see something, or rather, _someone_ he wasn’t expecting to see for a long time. If ever.

“Fawkes you…You magnificent bird, you!” Harry dove in for a hug making the large flaming bird to squawk in alarm at the sudden movement.

“You saved me, didn’t you?!”

The gigantic bird chirped in confirmation and Harry grinned. If he was being honest, Harry couldn’t help but feel a bit of apprehension. Fawkes being here could mean that Dumbledore knew where he was, and Harry wasn’t ready to go back. Not yet. Maybe…not ever.

Eyeing the Headmaster’s familiar warily, Harry inched back slightly, “You’re not here to take me back, are you?”

Fawkes shook his head, Harry relaxed, “Good….sooo,” gazing at his unfamiliar surroundings he asked, “Where are we?”

At first glance, it seemed like a normal jungle. You know, if it wasn’t for the purple leaves, blue colored moss and striped vines hanging high from the treetops. Certainly unusual, but Harry has gotten used to unusual, so really, could this be considered normal? Harry blinked as he caught sight of a glowing worm crawling its way across a giant leaf. Realizing the flaming flamingo had yet to respond to his question, Harry felt the hints of dread pool in his gut.

“…You know where we are…. _right?_?”

Fawkes refused to look at him and Harry wanted to strangle him, “Please tell me you can at least get us back!”

In a flash of burning flames, Fawkes promptly caught on fire.

Harry gapped and watched in s sort of detachment as the phoenix, his one ticket home, went up in flames…. literally. The pile of ash moved, and baby Fawks made his appearance, face just as wrinkly and ugly as the first time Harry witnessed his burning day. This day could not get any better.

 _Click_ , “Don’t move or I’ll blow your head off.”

Ah. Fate just _loved_ to kick him in the balls didn’t it?

Turning slowly around despite the warning, if Harry was going to die (unlikely all things considering), then he’d like to do it facing his killer. He faced the end of a barrel, **again**.

“Wha—? Kid?! What the _stars_ are you doing here?!”

Harry lit up in recognition, it was Paz! That cool guy who helped Mando free him and Cheche! He sighed in relief, “Oh its just you. I thought it was another Guild member looking for me!”

Paz put away his rifle, “I heard. Where’s your uh, Guardian?”

Harry shrugged and sheepishly scratched the back of his head, “Actually, I don’t know where I am right now.”

 _Sqwak!_ Mini-Fawkes made his presence known. Paz zoomed in on the tiny _thing_ laying in a pile of, was that ash?!

“Oh um, that’s Fawkes,” Harry answered the Mandalorian’s unspoken question, “He’s a phoenix.” Like that answered everything (it did not).

The silence stretched, neither knowing how to proceed. Paz had thought that his life had been hectic enough, what, with taking care of the remaining survivors. There weren’t many, but it was enough to keep their culture alive. They could always rebuild, as they’d done many times before. This wouldn’t be the first time they were almost wiped out.

Despite this however, Paz still felt shaken. He’d watch his comrades die. Sure, he’d been around and seen death but for some reason, this felt **devastating**. He watched and could do nothing as they all fell, one by one. A part of him felt like he should have stayed behind to fight, but the Armorer insisted; _“Take the children Paz, they are our future. This, is the way.”_

So he left. Heart heavy as he carried out what was left of their measly creed. It was heart wrenching having to tell some of the young _ade_ that their parents would never come back, that they couldn’t go back to what had some grown up to thinks of as **home**. The some of the younger ones woke up crying for their _cabur_. He—rough around the edges and way too cynical Paz—was all they had.

So here he stood, in front of yet another child who looked as if he’d lost _everything,_ and Paz found himself empathizing, “Hey, why don’t we get some food in you and we can talk about it, sound good?”

Harry, who had felt himself crumbling little by little as he stood there in silence, sniffed, and nodded. Food sounded good by now. Scooping up the miniaturized phoenix, Harry silently trailed after Paz.

XXXXX

Mando paced tirelessly, muttering under his breath while the child gazed up at him from the floor with wide eyes, not quite understanding the situation but knowing nonetheless that his Guardian was extremely distressed.

It had been a few hours since they heard that gun shot go off and they’d found **nothing** to indicate where Harry had gone or who had set off that shot.

Mando launched himself across the room the second Cara opened the door, “ **Well? Did you find him?!** ”

Cara sighed sadly and shook her head, “No. We found a pile of ashes who, hopefully, belong to Harry’s would-be killer and not Harry himself but,” she clenched her jaw and refused to look at the Mandalorian, “we don’t know for sure.”

Mando stumbled back as if shot, legs buckling underneath him and if it wasn’t for Cara he would have landed on the floor. As it was, Cara gripped his shoulders and gently guided him towards the bed. Usually, Mando would not have shown such weakness to others, not even from his own creed. Usually, he would have never taken in two miscreants. _Usually,_ Mando would never had grown to care about a _target_. But…this wasn’t “usually”, was it?

Mando had known from the beginning, the moment he decided to turn back to save The Child and Harry that something in him shifted. The persona known as “Mando” had cracked, and slowly but surely, more of Din had come out.

And he was paying for it.

Din clenched his fist.

“ **This is all my fault.** ”

The room seemed to freeze—

“Yeah. It kinda is.”

Din blinked and turned to stare at Cara who was staring unashamedly back at him, “What?” he croaked out.

“It’s your fault,” she continued in a seemingly uncaring manner, “You saved him from those Imperials. You took him in and made him yours. _You_ spat those unforgivable words to the boy’s face and, what? You expected everything to be okay?”

“ **I—** ”

“No,” she cut him off, standing up to face him, “ _I’m not done talking_. I’ve had it with you, one minute your hot, the next your cold, and then…I don’t know! Your somewhere in between! You didn’t have to save these kids so why did you?”

He tried to speak, but no words came out.

“Why?!”

Din swallowed thickly; words stuck in his throat.

“WHY?!”

“ **I DON’T KNOW OKAY?!** ”

Cara crossed her arms, unimpressed, “Yes. You. _Do_.”

Din jumped up and started pacing angrily again, “ **I felt bad. The _Mando’ade_ are taught that children were supposed to be cherished and protected! I took that job for the money, how was I supposed to know it would deal with child trafficking?! Because that’s basically what it was! I…I just couldn’t go through with it!**”

He took a deep breath and turned his back on Cara, feeling very exposed despite his layers upon layers of clothing and armor, “ **I took them in because…when I looked into their eyes, I saw _myself_. I saw the scared little boy who was crouched inside a shed, waiting for death. And I…**” Din took a deep shuttering breath, “ **I just wouldn’t let that happen…not again.** ”

Cara softened, “So, what are you going to do about it?”

For a second, Din didn’t answer, then—“I’m going to look for him,” he turned to face Cara again, his once slumped shoulders straightening up in determination, “I’m going to find him and apologize then…well, then I’ll make sure no one hurts him again. Emotionally or physically.”

The ex-republican soldier nodded and softly asked the question they’d all been dreading, t needed to be said, “…And what if he’s dead?”

Din deflated, “Then…I don’t know what to do,” he trailed off helplessly.

XXXXX

Paz led Harry into the foliage, scanning the area for any potential enemies before brushing aside some large vines to reveal a hidden door. Brandishing a signate of some sort, Paz pressed it against the door, and with a flash, the entrance slowly rotated and fell away to reveal a dimly lit hallway carved out of stone.

“Come.”

Harry followed without hesitation, footsteps echoing in the seemingly empty cave. The path sloped downwards and then, to Harry’s amazement, opened up to reveal a massive room rivaling that of Hogwarts Great Hall. With natural light streaming in from the top and all types of greenery growing along the walls and hanging down from the ceiling, it was truly a sight to behold.

The children’s laughter echoed around them as they played some version of ‘tag’ and the low murmur of the adults whispering to each other as if they feared that any loud noise would get expose them. They looked haggard, drained, and Harry could immediately sympathize. Despite the beautiful scenery, this was truly a depressing place.

“You coming kid?”

Harry closed his mouth which had been gaping in wonder and quickly followed Paz down a set of stairs that where carved into the caverns very walls.

“How did you guys find this place?”

Paz ignored the curious children and weary gazes of the survivors for now in favor of answering Harry’s question, “Actually, this place was created by our Ancestors, a long time ago. They knew that the Mandalorians were feared as much as they were revered and that one day, we would need to hide away. Thus, this splendor was born.”

Harry frowned thoughtfully, “But why didn’t you guys hide here instead of back in Nevarro?”

“Excellent question. There were many reasons, the main one being that it was easier to access for those of us working to earn money. But also, we…we were not ready to face the truth.”

Harry gazed up at Paz’ dark visor that reflected his curious green eyes back at him, “Truth?”

“That we were no longer wanted in the Universe.”

Harry felt the breath leave his lungs at that and his heart clenched at the sheer sadness radiating off Paz.

To be hunted to the brink of extinction.

To have no one and nowhere to turn to.

To be alone with a crumbling culture.

That was, indeed, a horrifying way to live.

Swallowing the lump forming in his throat Harry asked, “Aren’t you afraid of me giving up your secret?”

Without pausing to think, Paz responded with a firm, “No.”

Harry jerked back in surprise, “Why?!”

Underneath his helmet, Paz smiled, “Because Djarin trusts you, and as much as I dislike that arrogant asshole, he’s a part of us. This is the way.”

With that, Paz turned to his people and with a voice that reached the far ends of the sanctuary declared in Mando’a that Harry was an ally and that he was to be treated with respect.

“ _Sushir laam!_ ”

At that moment, Paz Vizsla radiated leadership and Harry couldn’t help but straighten up and listen despite no knowing a word of what he was saying. However, after he was done with his speech, Harry leaned towards the large Mandalorian and whispered, “What does that mean?”

Paz cocked his head, “Djarin hasn’t taught you the basics yet?”

Now it was Harry’s turn to cock his head in confusion, “What basics?”

Paz cradled his helmet, and cursed, “Stars, save me from negligent fathers,” heaving a sigh he gave, what Harry assumed was a searching gaze, “Right. First things first, food, clothes, and perhaps a brief introduction to our history. You’ve got a lot to learn kid.”

The wizard felt a thrill of excitement at the prospect of learning more about the Mandalorians’, and _maybe_ get a little bit more insight on **one** Mandalorian in particular.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I’m back to post yet another short chapter, but hey! At least it’s something! To be honest, this chapter has been sitting in my laptop files for a while, I just never got around to extending it or revising. So I’m going to stop waiting and post this thing. My headcanon for Paz and Din’s relationship is that they’re jealous of what each other has but will die for the Cove and each other despite their differences.…. a bit like Naruto and Sasuke I suppose but less antagonistic? I dunno. Also, that speech that Din ade about Harry and Grogu, that was inspired by the HTTYD speech Hiccup gave Astrid. Hope ya’ll enjoy this chapter and thank you sooooooooooo much for the love and support!

**Author's Note:**

> Whew! That took me longer than I thought! Some of the things, like the type of aliens, planets and such took me a while to research. I really hope I applied them correctly. Anyway, tell me your thoughts and please let me know if I need to improve anything. Also, sorry about any spelling/grammar mistakes. 
> 
> Preview: “Twinkle twinkle little star~” “Ba!” “Yeah, I know I’m not the best singer. You don’t have to point it out.”


End file.
